


Small Packages ( Optimus Prime/Reader )

by stonedrodent



Series: Transformers/reader [1]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-05-22 07:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6071230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonedrodent/pseuds/stonedrodent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giant robots force you to get involved with a crazy alien war that has been going on for over a millennia.<br/>This story takes place during Transformers: Prime throughout the episodes as you try to understand your new powers and friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It begins

Your hand reaches forward to raise the volume of your static-peppered radio, blaring some unrecognizable rock-and-roll music. You settle on it for a few minutes as you drive down the red desert.  
The screaming and insane guitar riffs were making you anxious, so you changed it again. You flipped through the channels, finding nothing. You almost just turned it down when you finally found the hit song of a band you could tolerate. It was better than the bitter silence, though the growing feeling in your chest wouldn't fade.

You were a coward. You were running from everything and you didn't care. You were always quick to high-tail it at the slightest sign of disaster. Better to avoid it all-around.

You see an old coal mining site up ahead.   
As you pass it, you adjust the mirror in your dashboard and catch something odd. 

There was another opening to the mine, your view of it obstructed from the other side. The hole was much bigger than the entrance the miners must have used. Something inside it glints in your eye, and you find yourself stopping the car.

You don't know why you were stopping to check this out. You've been driving down this desert for hours and you've passed tons of weird landmarks but never stopped for them.  
But something was tugging at your brain, and you needed to put your curiosity to rest. Obviously it was probably a wrapper or something, you don't know why you were checking it out.

You get out of the car and head towards the site, not bothering to close the door. The sun blared down immediately hitting your skin like a blanket of heat. You lifted your hand, using it as a visor as you looked up, catching sight of something else. It looked like some kind of strange bird, but no; it was much too big for that. Was it some crazy area-51 drone? You rolled your eyes at the thought.

The silhouette of the strange thing hovered around you a bit. It seemed to circle you once before speeding off towards the mine and entering it, speeding down its dark halls.

Okay...definitely not a bird. It has to be a drone. Or a UFO. You hoped for UFO. It would definitely change up the pace of your life.

But now you obviously have to check out the place. You quickly made it over to the huge opening, a bit surprised at it's size. It was much bigger than how it looked. God, that must be like 500 feet! Okay not really, but something like that.

You shake your head of your thoughts and continue on. A tugging anxiety pried at your mind but you hesitantly ignored it, wanting to know what was going on. You had nothing to lose, anyways.  
You pass a small opening on the floor, you almost didn't notice it if it weren't for the pulsing blue glow coming from it. You could feel it in your shoes, vibrating very faintly. You approach it cautiously, sliding your hand along the edge of it. It was just big enough for you to slide through.

Blue crystals. Blue crystals EVERYWHERE. They sprouted from the ground, the walls, the ceilings, clumped together in clusters spotting the entire room and coating everything in a sapphire blue hue.  
It was breath-taking. And, god, how much was this all worth? You assumed they were sapphire or something to that effect, but...something was off about them.  
That pulsing was still there, ever stronger now that you were even closer. It sent warm trails up your limbs now, a tingling sensation taking over your body. It was faint but it was there.

You step further into the hidden room and approach the largest cluster towards the center of it. It glowed the brightest and emitted the most of that strange vibration. It made your skin crawl the closer you got. You find yourself tripping over one of the damned things and reach out for anything to grab. 

You latch onto a long crystal sprouting from the wall, just barely stopping yourself from falling. You sigh in relief, but soon the feeling was replaced with pain. White hot searing pain that made your vision go black in the corners. You scream, but your ears start to ring so hard it felt like you were hearing your cry from the outside of a club. You stumble backwards, and before you had a chance to register it, you were on your ass.  
Nothing felt real. You felt like you were watching yourself lift your hand to stare at the singed, bubbling flesh.  
There was blue liquid caked on your palm. Your burning skin seemed to soak it right up. You blink down at it, completely unable to react to this. 

You felt a booming vibration in your body again, but it was different. It grew stronger as something appeared in the large entrance across the mine you hadn't noticed before.

You would probably scream out of fright if you weren't already wailing in pain.

The thing had to be 30 feet tall. It had sleek metal skin, and thin limbs as if it were a robot. Wait, it actually might be a robot. You couldn't tell, you were in too much pain to theorize. 

Black tentacles slid from its body towards the ground, coming towards you. You could only watch in horror, holding your hand desperately as they approached you fast.

They were stopped short as the robot itself was shoved to the side by another giant robot. What the fuck is happening here.

The larger green one slammed into the skinnier black one, the sheer force of it hitting the wall making it crumble before them. It stood up wearily before pointing its arm at the other one and literally shooting laser beams at it. Fucking laser beams.

It seemed only minimally affected as it charged back towards the black one and punched it. It flew back, hitting the wall and slumping down as steam poured from it. You could hear more similar action happening somewhere else.

The large green robot approached you, and you looked up at it, unable to react. You were reaching out for some kind of emotion but nothing came other than pain. It knelt down in front of you, the size between you both quite overwhelming.

“What are you doing here? Where did you...come on, get on. I'll get you out of here,” it said in gruff  
fluent English as it offered its hand to you, as if expecting you to step up onto it like a pet bird.

You actually might have, but you felt consciousness quickly escaping you as your vision faded in and out.

 

The line between reality and death blurred as you sat in darkness. You heard nothing, but you only just realized you could feel your body. The sound of a beeping monitor was slowly becoming more apparent. You decided to test your eyes. A blurry far ceiling came into view. Pretty high for a hospital ceiling...

“She's waking up,” a voice said.

“Arcee, don't be ridiculous. She hasn't been under any longer than eight hours, she can't possibly be conscious already...oh.”

You blink wearily, looking around. You stare at the giant robots who seemed to be closing in on you. Your body doesn't have much strength to react.

“Robots,” you manage to say.

“What?” the orange and white one said, leaning in. The perspective change really put things into, well, perspective, for you.

“R...r...robot,” you sputter, frozen to your metal bed, which you just realized was awful on your back.

The blood in your veins ran cold as you stared at the giant alien creature. What was it? Where did it come from? Why were you so fear-stricken?

“She's malfunctioning,” the feminine-sounding one said in a bit of a panicked voice. 

“Arcee, please. These are humans, they have a completely different biology from our own.”

“Then why is she leaking all over? And shaking?”

“I...I think she may be malfunctioning.”

You hear a small sigh of frustration as you grip your blanket for your life, the icy cold sweat dripping down your temple. This was a lot to take in.

You tried to scream, but a small whimper escaped your throat instead.

The orange one closed in on you. Your breathing hitched and you started to scramble, when his large hand came forward and poked you...somehow. You let out another small cry as you are stabbed by the item in his hand.  
You're gonna die. You just got injected with weird robot alien poison and now you're gonna die, and that's why you suddenly feel really good right now.

“What did you give her?” the feminine voice asked.

“Some human narcotics. Don't ask how I got them.” the scratchy, deeper one mumbled.

The two seemed to argue a bit about something, you didn't pay attention. 

“I think our guest may need some air,” another voice boomed. It filled your entire body. 

Tingles set through your entire body. Your brain felt fuzzy. His voice felt so...soothing.  
Can a voice do that? Make you feel like sex? You don't know, you can't really tell if this is a dream or if the robot poison was slowly killing you, but you were thankful for the relief.

The two stepped away from you, but immediately the voice made itself apparent, and you could see by-far the largest one step forward. His red and blue metal stood out much differently, though the paint scuffed and faded.

He knelt down onto one knee, and the bed(which you had just realized was very high up in the air, but you were luckily not afraid of heights) lined with his chest. He was almost at eye length to you, and though proportionally speaking, he was much bigger; it still made you feel...equal to him, in a way.

“What is your name, my friend?” he asked, his gaze piercing right through you. You almost didn't catch what he said.

“(Y-Y/N),” you manage to stammer, though you probably sounded stupid.

“(Y/N), I am Optimus Prime. The ones you see around you are known as Autobots. We have been living on your planet for quite some time now, fighting an endless war against our kind known as Decepticons.”

“Autobots? Decepticons?” you blink, the shock having set into your body by now. Nothing made sense at this point; you were willing to believe anything.

Optimus Prime. That's what the...the Autobot called himself. What a strange name. It had a ring to it.

“The war we have waged has gone on far longer than humans roamed this Earth, though our battle has unfortunately been transferred here. We fight to stop Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, from destroying this beautiful planet, as he once has to our own.”

Well...he does make a good speech. You can't argue with that. This Megatron guy sounds like a dick. But hey, at least the crippling anxiety from before was gone and you were in a peaceful trance.

You stared at all of them, feeling a bit light-headed. You haven't quite been able to soak up any of this information. You finally realize how many of these robots there were. A small blue one, a slightly bigger yellow one, a red one that was about the same size, the green one from before, an orange one, and the one you were talking to. They all stared at you curiously, and if you weren't so messed up you'd probably realize how some of them looked at you with disgust.

You slipped back into unconsciousness, unable to keep yourself awake any longer.


	2. You Wake up and Fall Asleep Several Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there is a LOT of dialogue, sorry

You stared at your TV blankly. Nothing on the screen really popped out to you, you just watched intently.  
Just as you realize the TV was nothing but static, it switched off. The white noise it made rang in your ears. You stood up and walked over to it, attempting to fix it with little success. No matter how many times you fucked with the wires, banged on the head, and toiled with the buttons it did nothing, and an irrational amount of anger for the television fueled you. Your fist clenched into a ball just before landing right into the glass surface, shattering it. You didn't feel anything. Why didn't you feel pain?

The glass shards that stuck to your skin plucked themselves from your broken flesh and crawled up your arm like bugs. You tried to brush them off, you flailed your arm, you hit it against the television. Nothing would stop their descent up your forearm.  
You looked around desperately for something that could help you, and found yourself in a barren metal land.

The glass positioned themselves, crudely sticking together like a puzzle until it covered your entire forearm, digging into your flesh.

Black ink stained the transparency until your entire arm looked dead. You watched in horror as the black glass blew away like dust in the wind, leaving you with nothing. The technological world around you fell to ashes, and you were unconscious again. 

You gasped, your arm desperately reaching out to grab hold of safety, clanging against metal and sending a shooting pain up your shoulder blade.  
You cry out and nurse your arm, realizing now that the horror you just experienced so vividly was a dream. 

“Sweet Cybertron! Don't writhe so much in your sleep, do you want to hurt yourself even more than you are now?!” A grouchy voice startled you.

You turn your head in his direction. It was the orange and white one from before. Your eyes drifted over the shape of his body, finally stable enough to drink in the anatomy of these aliens. He noticed, and you immediately looked away. Hopefully the robots didn't check each other out on their home planet.

His lip twitched upwards slightly in disgust, and he turned away from you. Shit, he noticed. Robots from another planet definitely check each other out, then.

“What happened to me?” You blurt out, unsure of how to ask.

He did not turn to look at you, instead busying himself with a large green holographic screen. 

“The better question would be why you were even in that coal mine a few nights ago,” the robot said, his eyes scanning the screen.

“I was leaving town when I saw something sketchy,” you say slowly, looking around and taking in your surroundings.

The entire place looked like some kind of old government facility. The walls looked like straight rock, which made you wonder what the outside looked like.

“What did you call yourselves, again?”

“We are Autobots.”

He glanced at your monitors, not making eye-contact before returning to the screen.

“What are you doing?” you ask, looking at it as well. You couldn't understand any of the equations.

“Scanning for Decepticon activity, researching on your human web, and calibrating some old codes.”

“Damn,” you breathe in through your nostrils, staring at the screen in awe.

“Just busying myself a bit while I watch your vitals and wait for the others to return.”

These robots are smart. They're so much more capable of everything...shit, dude.

“Where are the...um, the others?” 

“Out.”

“What did you say your name was?”

“By the Allspark, do you ever stop asking questions?” Ratchet glared at you, and you immediately flinched. He sighed.

“The Autobots have important work to do. As do I, so if you don't mind, I'd like to focus on my research, now.”

“Right...” you looked away, staring at a rather interesting splotch of red rock over there. “Sorry.”

Silence filled the room, broken by the regular beeping of your monitor. You notice him shift awkwardly from the corner of your eyes.

“My name is Ratchet.”

It was silent again. You felt the corners of your lip tug upward a bit, and the air wasn't as heavy anymore.

Radio static filled the air for a moment before you heard a familiar voice.

“Ratchet, prepare a ground bridge.”

“Of course, Optimus.” Rachet typed with skill and in a moments notice, the large tunnel you had noticed from before began to make noise.

What the hell? Your eyes widen as you watch a tunnel of light fill it up, and soon after five cars came speeding in. Wait. Cars?

Cars. Cars came in and they transformed into the robots you saw before. Okay, so they can turn into cars. Interesting.

“We have successfully acquired a new means of energon supply,” Optimus Prime boomed as he approached the two of you. 

“Is our new friend feeling any better?”

“It seems that, despite only having been here for a little over 24 hours, our patient is indeed making a quick recovery. Do humans really respawn that quickly? According to my research, it can take weeks just to mend a broken bone!” Ratchet exclaimed, rather shocked. 

You look down at your bandaged wrist. You remember taking that fall and grabbing onto a crystal to hold yourself up, when it broke in your grip and burned your flesh. Your hand was surprisingly in no pain.

“What were those blue crystals? I tripped and grabbed one, and it burned my hand.”

Ratchet's expression grew a bit serious. He glanced down at your hand as well.

“That was energon, our natural source for power. One of the reasons we chose to come to this planet, and one of the reasons we are fighting to protect your kind,” Optimus explained calmly.

He looked you in the eyes, and you shivered. He was so intimidating...more so than the others.

“You say you came in contact with it?”

You nod and lift your hand, looking at it curiously. “It got in my wounds...but...”

“Let me check your burns,” Ratchet suddenly says.

“Don't you want to give her some time, first?” one of them piped up. It was the green one from before. The yellow, blue, and red ones were silent as they watched.

“She's recovered this quickly, may as well.” He moves closer, and it made you flinch, but you stayed still this time.

He removed your bandages with skill, despite his massive size difference, and soon the bandages lay at your side as you stare at a perfectly fine hand. Nothing was wrong with it!

“Impossible,” Ratchet said quietly, touching your hand softly. 

You feel your cheeks burn and look away as he inspects your arm.

“How could this happen?” He put his index to his chin in thought.

“Any records of a human coming into contact with energon usually resulted in immediate death. I was surprised you were still alive when the others brought you in, and even when you woke up less than a day later...but this,” Ratchet mumbles, mostly to himself, it seems, as he goes through your records.

Wait, where did he get those? You were about to ask when Optimus took a step closer.

“Perhaps our new friend is special,” he said, albeit ridiculously.

You scoffed quietly, though nobody noticed. 

“Well, no matter. Out; with the lot of you! I need (Y/N) in solitaire for now while I check her vitals.” Ratchet grumbled, obviously annoyed with all the company.

They began to leave, when the red one stopped in front of them and blocked their exit.

“We never told the girl our names, did we? I'm Cliffjumper,” he said, giving you a lopsided grin.

“Uh...Arcee,” the blue one said after glancing at her friend hesitantly.

“Oh! I'm Bulkhead,” the green one said, and you offered him a small smile.

The yellow one let out a series of chirps and beeps you didn't understand. Though, it was actually quite adorable.

“And his name is Bumblebee,” Cliffjumper said. 

You nod quietly, and he stares at you for a little longer than you wanted. They dispersed quickly to do their own things across the room. You sigh and lean against your bed, staring ahead quietly. So you burned the shit out of your hand with some deadly alien slime, only slept for a couple hours, and when you woke up your hand was better. That's...definitely not normal. But you threw the concept of normal out the window a while ago.

Though you were barely tired, the soft beeping of the monitor lulled you to sleep. When you awoke, everyone was gone save for Ratchet. It was just you and him again.

“What are you doing awake?” Ratchet asked upon hearing you shift, “Go back to bed.”

“I've slept long enough” you say bitterly as you stretch. “What time is it?”

“2:35 AM.”

Nodding, you look at the green screen Ratchet busied himself with. Just then, the one called Cliffjumper strolled in through the large opening of the hallway. He paused to see you awake, and smiled warmly at you.

“Well! You look like you're doing better. Are you?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow at you.

“Yeah,” you say, casting him a small smile. Of all the aliens so far, he gave off the most comfortable vibe.

“Good, good. You recover as fast as an Autobot!” he grinned at you, and you blushed, looking away.

“I guess. I wish I knew why.”

“You're pretty tough for a human, kid. Well, now that you're rolling with us, you won't have to search for answers long. We'll help ya out.”

He smirked at you, giving a lazy salute before strolling down the hall on the opposite side of the room.  
You pause, thinking about what Cliffjumper had just said. 

You're pretty tough for a human, kid.

You look at your arm and remember a time from when you were young. You were at the playground, young and innocent, when you fell off the monkey bars and broke your right arm. You didn't cry all the way to the hospital, but you did when they popped your bone into place. The doctor called you tough for a kid.  
History repeats itself, but with giant alien robots, you guess.

Well, now that you're rolling with us...

Do these guys think you're staying? You chuckle a bit to yourself. No, you can't stay here. In fact, it's best you leave by sundown. These aliens would be better off without the hassle, anyway.

You think about the disappointed look your father might give you if he ever saw you again. You think about how your mother would react, were she alive to see it. 

No, you can't stay. You have to get as far away from Nevada as possible.


	3. Cliffjumper is the cool one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you and cliffjumper bond a bit. also arcee is a bitch.

You laid in bed for a while before finally dozing off. You barely realized you were falling unconscious until Ratchet forced you back into reality and made you walk around the base area. While you did, you got a good look at their place and really took it all in.   
You made it all the way back to your bed, but you didn't feel very accomplished. It was just like walking any other day. You hear a very loud clapping from across the hall. Cliffjumper stood there, an entertained grin on his face.

“Good job!” was all he said to make you look away. You then notice Arcee just a bit off to the side. “You recover quick.”

“Thanks,” you say with a smile. Despite their intimidating size, this bot gave off the calmest vibe. His attitude made everything feel a bit less, well, alien.

Arcee stepped forward, giving you the courtesy of a quick glance in your direction. Huh...maybe she was shy. You'd give her some time before deciding you hated her. She had a small smirk cast towards Cliffjumper, but seemed to avoid your eyes.

“Let's get going, Cliff. I want an early start. I'm sure Ratchet's got a lot of work to do, too.”

“Actually, (Y/N) has made quite a speedy recovery. In fact, all of her vitals are at an impressive rate. She's in perfect health.”

“Oh? Well, since you're feelin' so much better already, how does riding with me for the day sound?”

You looked at his hopeful smile, blinking, dumbfounded for a moment. Not wanting to look stupid, you shake yourself out of it a bit and look to Ratchet. He glances at both of you, lip twisted upwards in frustration.

“Absolutely not. But,” Ratchet mumbled a bit to himself about statistics, your body's healing rate and furrowed his brows before sighing. “Sure, whatever, go. I don't care.”

“Uh, Cliff, you sure about that? Aren't humans supposed to be all squishy inside? I doubt they could take a hit from a Decepticon.”  
You felt your face heat up at that comment, it for some reason offended you. Okay, that was rude. You were one to jump to defense mode so quickly, and one way to do that is to push your buttons. She probably isn't shy. She probably just dislikes you.  
Bitch.  
Cliffjumper grinned and stepped forward. Immediately, you internally flinched, fearing those very large feet. It's definitely much worse when you're not on a med-bay that is 10 feet fall. But he carefully stepped beside you, and you could hear a peculiar clicking of gears and feel a gush of wind flow through your hair.  
You open your eyes, and see a red car that replaced him. You recall it being a Dodge Challenger, an old one to be specific. Maybe 1970, 80? Gorgeous, nonetheless. Fortunately for you, your father was very fond of cars and talked to you incessantly about them. You weren't particularly impressed by them, but you've grown a soft spot for them over the years. You'll pick up an old beater once in a while just to fix it and sell it.

“Hop in,” he reminded you of his intellegence.

You ignored the temptation to run your fingers along his sleek exterior. That would be creepy, right? Yeah. That's like feeling someone up, you're pretty sure.  
Shaking yourself from your thoughts, you grin at his, um, shield? Face? Where would that be? Regardless, you do hop in, and almost immediately, he revs his engine and speeds towards the large circular hole in the rock wall. A rush of adrenaline pulses through your chest, reaching desperately for a seatbelt. You sigh in relief when you find that Autobots include human safety precautions and clicked it into place.  
You looked behind the two of you and see Arcee close behind. She was a motorcycle, which makes sense, seeing as she was much smaller than the rest of them. There was a human girl on the seat of her bike form. Weren't you the only human here? Or was it a decoy?

“You like music?” Cliffjumper asked, and you looked forward.

“Oh, yeah! Uh, any kind is fine,” you manage to say, despite not being used to talking to a glowing steering wheel.  
The radio's volume raised itself, and the channels changed quickly, hearing the slightest bit of a shitty song every time. You were relieved when he stopped on a channel to a genre you didn't mind. At least he had good taste in music.  
“So, where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular. Just scout around until we hit an energon signal.”

“That's all you do?” you ask, looking out the window.

“Well, no. A lot of the time, Decepticons have made it to the place before us and it might get messy. That's what we were doing when we found you, or, heh, you found us.”

Makes sense. So you assume the thing that tried to take you originally was a Decepticon. He had an eerie vibe to him, and when his weird ass tentacles started coming for you, you froze. Thankfully for you, that Bulkhead guy was there. You'd have to remind yourself to thank him later.

“It's a good thing we did, too. You wouldn't have stood a chance against Soundwave. Maybe any other ditsy Con, but not him.”

Soundwave. So that's his name. You silently hope you never see him again, ever.

“You know, reminds me of a time back on Cybertron. This scout, barely out of school, thinks he's all that. Tried to tell one of our buds off. My friend threw the small guy so far he landed in a pile of debris two blocks off. He didn't speak to us for a week after that.”

“I reminded you of that?” you look at the wheel incredulously.

“Yeah! I mean, it sounds weird in retrospect, but the guy was really spunky. He was curious, too. You remind me of him.”

The car launched into a story about life back on Cybertron with his posse. He was actually really funny, and kept you laughing with him and captivated in his stories for hours. Before you knew it, the sun was beginning to set. Arcee had long gone her own path since then.

“Does Arcee not like me?” you ask suddenly, but immediately regret it.

“Hm? Nahh, she likes everyone, she's just stubborn. Besides, being the first human she's ever spoken to, it might be a bit jarring for her. She'll warm up, don't worry.”

“Am I the first human contact you've all had?” you ask in shock, lifting a hand to your mouth.

“No, no. Not all of us. We've been involved with the government for a while now. Mostly just a grouchy old guy that comes in to catch up on political stuff, but it's usually just the Bossbot that deals with him.”

You felt a bit relieved and sat back, watching the scenery pass by.

“But I've never actually talked to a human before. You're a lot cooler than what I assumed all the others were like.”

“All people are different,” you shrug. “Some are assholes.”

“Cliffhanger, turn in for tonight. It's Bee and Bulkhead's shift.” you hear the familiar female voice cut the radio off.

“Ten-four, Arcee. Ratchet, I need a ground bridge.”

As he sped forward, a large blue portal appeared in the middle of the empty road, and the two of you soared straight towards it. You don't know if you'll ever get used to it.

He skid to a stop in the clearing, the front door swinging open for you. Hoisting yourself out, you smile at him. You watch him transform, the gears twisting and turning intricately until he was a totally different being. It was amazing to see. Cliff noticed you staring, and smirked almost playfully at you. Did he think you were checking him out, too? You really needed to stop staring at them.

His own eyes glanced over your small body, taking in your anatomy as well. You felt your face heat up instantly and you looked away. 

“It's cute how your face gets all red when you're embarrassed. Why does it do that, I wonder?” Cliff wondered to himself before striding right past you.

You blinked, eyes widening in realization. He just said you were cute. And you were okay with it. Did you really find these giant robot cars attractive? You must be going crazy...

“(Y/N),” you heard a familiar voice, and turned around.

“Hey,” you hesitantly said, waving to Optimus Prime. His size was by far the most intimidating.

“How are you feeling?” He kneeled down on one knee, leaning down to look at you at a better height. Despite even that, he was daunting in size.

“Uh...I'm great!” you stutter, giving him a smile and a thumbs up. His straight lips curve upward in a warm smile.

“I am relieved to hear you are in pristine shape, however, there are matters we must discuss. Do you remember what I had explained to you yesterday?”

“Uh...Yeah. The thing with Megatron and the Decepticons, or whatever, right?” you put an index finger to your chin and look up to him curiously. He nods.

“Yes. One of Megatron's followers has seen you with us, and will associate you with us. They may track you and try to find you. I think it will be best if you stayed here at all times from now on.”

You almost scoffed.

“Uh...Optimus Prime, I know you want what's best and all, but I was kinda planning on leaving and getting as far away as possible. You guys don't have to worry about me.” You say apprehensively. 

“I do not think you quite understand the weight of your situation. Our kind has much more advanced technology than your own, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. If they think you are a reliable source to our position, and caught alone, they will find you with ease.”

“Okay?” You say, not fully understanding what he wants to say here.

“You'll be tortured,” you hear Ratchet pipe up. “Until you tell them where we are.”

You bit your lip, looking towards the ground bridge, where a bright blue portal had previously been. “I see.”

A familiar tightness filled your chest as you fumed. They were acting like your babysitters, but at the same time you wanted to leave Nevada, not get stuck here. You don't want to be involved with this. You wish you had stayed in your apartment the day you decided to leave.

On the bright side, you can't be found here, it'll be like you disappeared off the face of the planet. Your dad can't find you here. Your friends can't find you here.

“I can't just...stay here, you know. I need food, clothes, stuff like that. I'd need to go to my apartment and get my things, visit the bank and store...” you started to talk to yourself quietly, thinking about what you might need. If you're going to live with giant robots, you'd at least want to be comfortable. 

“One of us can--”

“I'll take her!” Cliffjumper cut in, grinning. Arcee scoffed and started to head down the hall...Bitch.

“Very well. You shall accompany (Y/N) in the morning to retrieve her things. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, let's roll out!”

The three of them transformed into their respective vehicles and sped towards the ground bridge, which whirred to life. They were gone in seconds.

You looked over at Ratchet, then to Cliffjumper. He grinned at you.

“Not sure where you'll sleep tonight. Maybe the med-bay again?”

“The giant slate of metal?” you say, unimpressed. “No, humans prefer soft things to sleep on. Got anything like that?”

“Well, uh...” Cliffjumper looked around. “No, this place is pretty much full of metal. Buuuuut...”

You heard the twisting and turning of gears, and in seconds he was a Challenge again. Your eyebrows raised and you looked at him curiously.

“Hop in,” he said to you once again, and you looked around nervously. Ratchet wasn't paying attention. You looked back and smiled awkwardly before climbing in.   
You pulled off your jacket and tried to curl up as comfortably as possible on the soft chair, which thankfully connected to the passenger seat, pulling the jacket over you like a blanket.

This is weird.

“Thought this would be the next best thing to the floor, heh.”

You can't help but chuckle a bit. “Yeah, it is. Thank you.”

It was silent again, and you closed your eyes. You heard the radio switch on to a slow sounding song at a low volume. It was actually...really relaxing, and in minutes you were dozing off.


	4. Close Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO I TOOK FOREVER TO UPLOAD ANYTHING IM SORRY.   
> i want the chapters to be accurate to the episodes, and i want them to be decent, so sorry if i take a while to upload new chapters sometimes.
> 
> but heres a much longer chapter for you!!! i hope it was worth the wait ;_;
> 
> i also tried to make the beginning of this chapter as non-edgy as possible. i don't want you to have this huge tragic backstory, but having some drama is nice too.

You woke up to a pleasant breeze wafting across your face. You sit up and stretch, realizing you were in a moving vehicle. Cliffjumper, to be exact.

“Cliff? Where are we headed?” you say and yawn, stretching out your legs to the best of your ability.

“Thought we'd get an early start on getting your things. You live in Jasper, Nevada, right?”

“Oh...yeah, yeah.” your stomach clenches up in anxiety.

You sat in silent for moments before something starts to come up ahead. You squint, trying to see past the blaring desert heat.

“Wait...hey, that's my car!”

Cliffjumper pulls to a stop about five feet off and you open the door, trotting up to your baby.

“Man, I thought I'd never see you again.”

“Huh. It's pretty dingy,” Cliff said, and you could hear the whirring of his gears as he transforms and walks up beside you.

“Yeah, it's pretty old. But it works great,” you nod matter-of-factly and softly kick the tire.

You hear the sudden sound of compressed air releasing into the wind, and watch as the tire slowly flattens, lowering one side of your car. You slump, your smile fading.

“It sucks.”

“Yeah, I see that,” Cliff said. “Why don't you just ditch it? You got me, and I'm a damn good looking vehicle.”

You hear him transform again and turn to admire his exterior, smiling. Yeah, he really does look great.

This should be a weird thing. It should be awkward, and/or terrifying, because he's a big robot that could kill you with one megapunch, but it isn't. Oddly. It feels right to hang out with this big red metal alien. So you get into the driver's seat and strap yourself in, headed for Nevada. You don't look at the car in the rear-view mirror as it shrinks into the distance. It's gonna be alright.

 

“Hello, (Y/N).” says your father as you enter your apartment home.

“Fuck,” you say, and realize it was out loud.

He looks at you with a raised eyebrow. He doesn't look pleased. You speed past him, grabbing for a backpack in the closet. He grabs your wrist and turns you toward him.

“Where were you?” he asks, and you attempt to shrug him off. He stays firm.

“I uh...stayed at a friend's place. How did you get in here?” you ask, though you know the answer.

“Spare key under your rug,” he grunted. “Now tell me where you really were.”

“What does it matter to you?” you yanked your hand from him and walked past, heading into the kitchen.

“Because I'm your father,” he said.

“That's funny,” you rolled your eyes, shoving some canned soup and water into your bag. It'll be good enough for tonight.

Heading for your room, you see that your drawers have been picked through, and closet unorganized and on the floor. He had been digging around for something.

“What the hell are you doing?” you yell, turning towards him.

“I need that check, (Y/N).” your father says, looking you in the eyes.

“Check. The check Mom gave me when I was ten. That check, right?” you glare daggers at him and head towards your bed.

“I don't have anything from your mother. You'll be well off, you're young with a job--”

“I was fired over a month ago. Tonight is my eviction night,” you remind him.

“...Right. Anyway, you're a good kid, you'll be okay. Nobody wants to hire me.”

“You've been hired plenty of times, Dad. You just keep getting fired for drinking during work hours.”

You grunt as you push your bed up until it sits up against your wall. There was a small stitched pocket under it, and you tear it open, sticking your arm down into the wood paneling. You feel a loose spring scratch your arm as you pull out a wood box and shove it in your bag. You look at your arm and realize you're bleeding, but it had only felt like a scratch.

Your blood looks different, too. It looks, uh, brighter, than usual?

Shaking your head from your thoughts, you take anything with you that involves your identity. You think about Soundwave. What if he finds you? What if they took you?

You tried to hurry and headed for the door. Your father blocks it, once again grabbing your wrist painfully.

“Dad, stop. That hurts!”

“Where the hell are you going, huh? You got nowhere to go. I'm the only one you have. Your friends don't care, that's for damn sure,” he towered over you, his beer-breath in your face.

“I can't do this,” you said, turning away from him, feeling tears sting at your eyes. He wasn't letting up.

“We got a problem here?” you hear a familiar voice, and turn towards the window to see Cliffjumper poking his face through it.

“Cliff!” you gasp, looking at your father. Shit, this isn't good.

“You...I...robot...” he stuttered, the grip on your wrist loosening.

“Come on, (Y/N).”

You slowly walk over, open the window screen, and actually climb out of the window and onto his hand. He transforms once again and sets you gently on the ground. Thankfully it was in an alleyway and nobody probably saw it. Probably.

You get into the car and he speeds off towards the road. You look down at your bag, feeling nauseous. This was exactly what you were terrified of. And now he's seen Cliffjumper. Will he go to the police? Will they believe him?  
You wipe the tears from the corners of your eyes and sigh, staring out the window. 

“You alright?” you hear Cliff ask.

“Yeah...Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Where are we headed next?”

“Back on the road. It's my shift.”

You sigh, not particularly in the mood to sit for hours while he searches for any type of signal for energon.

But you had nothing to do. Nowhere to go. Everything you needed was in this bag, and you were getting evicted that night. You had nowhere to go then, nowhere to go now. The only thing left to do is drive, right?

You'll stick with these guys for a while.

“Alright,” you say, defeated, and lean back.

Hours pass as the two of you soar through the highways. He had used a 'ground bridge' a lot earlier in the evening, landing somewhere you weren't familiar with. It definitely wasn't Nevada, but you weren't near any cities in order to tell.

“Could you tell me another story from back on Cybertron?” you ask, trying not to fall asleep.

Cliff chuckled as the two of you entered a country road. “Not on Cybertron, but I got a good one for you. This one time--”

“Cliff. I need a status update. How you doing?” you hear Arcee's voice on the other line, and sigh, leaning into your seat.

“Hey Arcee, doin' fine. Just been scouting just outside New Jersey. I was about to tell (Y/N) here somethin'. You stickin around to listen?”

“Uh...sure, Cliff. Make it fast, though, would ya?”

“Yeah, yeah. This was actually not far off from here, in New York a couple months ago. I was on city duty, and boy is that boring. All kinds of traffic, loud noises, and noxious gases. So come night time, I'm dead bored.”

You stare ahead, listening to him talk. It wasn't particularly interesting, but it was better than the silence.

“So there I am on the lookout, when outta nowhere these high beams light up my rear-view. And then it hits me; I'm illegally parked!”

“Another parking ticket?” Arcee's voice says, a bit dully, through the clear radio.

“Better, the boot.” Cliff says.

“Big metal tire clamp, impossible to remove." She was monotone, like she knew that would happen. Act like you're interested, would you? Jeez...

“Bingo! So the local po-lice do their thing, and I let them get all the way down the block. That's when I kick off my new shiny shoe, and...Bang!” 

“New York's finest soiled themselves.” Arcee chuckles lightly.

“You know me Arcee. Mess with Cliffjumper,”

“and you get the horns.”

Cliffjumper laughs, and you chuckle as well. He sure is something else.

“Not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number one. Keep a low profile?”

“What can I say? Patrolling for energon out here in dullsville gets lonesome. But, hey, at least I got my buddy (Y/N) here to keep me company. That right, (Y/N)?”

You feel the corners of your lips tug upwards and cheeks light up slightly. Arcee was silent.

“Almost makes me miss the Decepticons, though.”

Your smile faltered and you looked over at the wheel. The Decepticons weren't active as of now? He made it sound like they were a threat, still.

“Like jasper, Nevada's a party? We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff.” Arcee said, sounding hollow. 

Just then, the screen on Cliff's dashboard blared to life, showing signs of red and yellow life on the green map.

“I'm getting a signal,” Cliff says as he begins to round a corner.

“Need backup?”

“Do I ever need backup?” Cliff said, and you could feel him smirking as he suddenly pulls off-road, crossing over the rocky, grassy terrain.

He skids to a stop just before a cliff ended, and you gasped, the familiar feeling of adrenaline pricking your chest.

You stared in awe before you at the literal field of energon contained within the valley. It looked so bright, and nice. You wanted to touch it, but obviously, that would bare consequences.

“I just found a whole lot of energon.” Cliff announced.

Just then, the ground shook in small tremors and a large shadow crept across the vehicle. You felt your heart drop.

“What's that?” you whisper.

The door to the drivers seat flung open, signaling you to get out. You quickly step out of the car with your bag tightly in hand.

He transformed, the whirring of gears bringing him to life. “Decepticons.”

You slowly turned around to see an enormous, and rather intimidating ship not 50 feet above ground. What appeared to be a gun sprang from its underside and pointed right for you. Wait. A GUN?

The gun shot lasers from it (as you expected, which is kinda cheesy in retrospect but who are you to judge millennial robot aliens fighting) and hit the ground right between you two, sending you both flying.  
You land roughly in the opposite direction, landing on a patch of grass surrounded by tall, thin trees. Groaning, you force yourself to get up and test your limbs. Nothing was broken, that was good. You run over to the patch of rocks shielding you from Decepticon view, and peer through the cracks anxiously. 

Where was Cliff?!

You saw him get up several feet away in the ditch full of energon that had been scouted up. A hole in the ship opened, and out came three black and purple robots just as big as Cliff. They must be Decepticons, but they all seemed kind of...well, the same. You wanted to run out and help, but you knew you'd get flattened easily by those things if you tried, so staying put for now was good. 

More and more Decepticons fell from the ship, landing on their feet and closing in on your friend. You searched for any possible way to help him, but found nothing. Your heart raced as you watched.

“Arcee, about that backup,” you hear him say to Arcee over the radio.

He can't do this. He can't stop all of these Decepticons! They're gonna kill him! You frantically search for something, anything that could help you save your friend.

“Fair warning, boys, I'll put a few dings in ya,” Cliff threatened, glaring at the horde of robots standing above him.

He transformed, the familiar clicks of his gears sounding and a roar of his engine as he sped towards the cliffside, driving right up over the rough terrain and zooming past them, several feet into the air. He transformed once again, coming down hard on one of the Decepticons. Immediately, he was knocked into the ditch full of energon, slamming onto his back; out cold. Cliff turned to face the others, who shared confused glances before drawing their weapons.

They jumped into battle. Almost immediately, the others had surrounded him, and knocked him around between them. Fucking assholes, they'll pay for this! One punched him, and he went flying towards the trench. You watched his horn fly clean off, shield your vision from the setting sun for just a moment, before landing in the patch of grass just a few feet away from you.

You quickly scrambled for it, grabbing the palm-sized horn and shoving it into your bag. Once the two of you were home, he'd want it back, right? You glance anxiously through the rocks, watching as the purple assholes closed in on your friend.

“You want the horns?” he announced, the guns attached to his arms glowing bright blue. “You got'em.”

He began to shoot, one after the other, sending one flying against the rocky wall of the ditch. The others immediately reacted, firing their own red-colored weapons at him. He expertly dodged them, but one hit a chunk of the crystals and they exploded upon impact. As a chain reaction, the others did as well, causing an enormous explosion.

You yelped and turned to hit the deck, holding your arms over your head as the massive explosion filled the entire field. The tall, thin structure of the rock shielded you from the impact; but you could feel an intense vibration as the raw energon came dangerously close to you.

Your head buzzed painfully, and you fell over on your side, holding your head, squeezing it; trying desperately to stop this strange inner pain.  
It felt like there were bees inside your head, hundreds of them; packed tightly inside you and wiggling, squirming, BUZZING. Make it stop! 

It was the only thing you could hear, your vision was going fuzzy. But as smoke began to fill the area, filling your lungs, the feelings came to a halt. You coughed, gasping for breath and reaching out for something. You grabbed hold of something metal and pulled yourself up, looking up to see a Decepticon in the flesh...er, metal.

Wow. Even after this, you can make jokes. Good job, (Y/N). No humility, even in the face of death.

You were rather roughly scooped up, their claws curling around you painfully as they walked calmly towards the outer field, where the smoke thinned out. You could finally see clearly, and breathe again. But honestly, you didn't want to see anymore.

Cliffjumper's limp body was being dragged by two robots towards the massive ship you had seen before. The hands holding you were different from theirs, and when you looked up, you realized you were being held by the very Decepticon that you saw in the mines a few days ago. 

It was Soundwave.


	5. It Gets Better ( Not Really )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the end of the prologue. i'm pacing the chapters weirdly don't JUDGE ME.
> 
> also itll start following the script of transformers; prime, and i don't take any responsibility for direct quotes taken from the show!! this is for fun and im not making money so idk why id be worried about this

He lifted you high enough to be at eye-contact with him. Well, you would be if he had eyes. Where his face should be was what appeared to be a screen, and you heard a small 'click'. You saw your own terrified face pop up in front of you, and realized with terror that he had taken a photo of you. Your hands grip his large one, shaking in fear. His head tilted just a bit. Was he staring at you?

Your heart is racing. You don't know if it's due to the possibility of being killed or if you were dying, but your heart was beginning to palpitate. You grip his claws, bursting into a cold sweat as you try to level your labored breathing. He seems confused as all hell, and you don't have the consciousness to agree. 

Your heart skipped a long beat, and an explosion of color burst inside your head. Everything was blue for just a moment, and suddenly the grip on you had loosened to the point of falling. You gasp as you slip from his fingers, straight towards the ground. Soundwave clenched his own claws in agony, transforming and taking to the sky. Somewhere in your panic, you had twisted your body upright and held your hands out, landing as softly as you possibly could. You could feel a soft 'crack' as you hit the earth, and rolled over rather ungracefully and onto your side, gritting your teeth hard. Shit. Your leg has gotta be broken. That crack couldn't have been anything else...

You nervously test your leg, and to your surprise, you feel no pain. You slowly stand up and stretch your limbs, feeling your bone as it pops back into place. Oh jeez, what a weird feeling! You get a big shiver down your back and shake, dusting off your shirt and glancing around. The Autobots had just connected a ground bridge to where you were and landed not far off. Optimus raised a gun, looking around wearily before catching sight of you. He lowered his gun, which transformed back into his hand as he approached you.

“(Y/N)! What on Cybertron happened?” Ratchet says, leaning down on one knee to examine you. He poked at your ribs and arms carefully, and you softly pushed his large finger away in discomfort.

“Cliff and I had found energon, but Decepticons ambushed us. They took Cliff...” you clench your bag, anxiety gripping your entire chest.

You open your bag and sift through your items, your fingers curling around the horn and pulling it out. You grip it in your hand a moment before revealing it to the group. Arcee gasps, and the others look on in shock.

Arcee stepped forward and softly took it from your hands. 

She held it tightly in her grip, closing her eyes. She turned away from the group.

"Ratchet, can you track his position?" Optimus turned to the medic, who quickly opened a panel on his arm.

Just as he did, his expression darkened. "No..." he whispered gruffly.

"Cliffjumper's life signal just went offline."

Your heart dropped. So that means he's dead, then? He's gone, and that's it? You clench your bag, feeling tears well up quickly. You notice the pained expressions on the others, as well.

“Autobots, gather around.” Optimus Prime finally said, and his team followed his instruction. You awkwardly shuffle, and Optimus nodded towards you, gesturing you to come forward as well. You quietly step into the circle, easily the smallest organism there, to stand next to Optimus.

“We must not allow our anger over the loss of Cliffjumper to impair our judgement. As of today, only we five Autobots remain on this Earth. We owe it to ourselves, to the memory of Cybertron, to any Autobots in any galaxy seeking safe harbor.” Optimus boomed deeply, sullenly. He looked down at you with a sad smile. “To humankind.”

Just then, Arcee stepped forward, stopping him short. She softly set the horn on the ground in the middle of the group, standing straight. You cringe a bit, looking away from the horn in shame. You could have done more, and now Arcee really did have a reason to hate you.

“And we owe it to the memory of our fallen comrade. To survive.”

Arcee glanced up at Optimus before turning away from the broken circle. She took a few steps before Optimus looked to her.

“Arcee,” he started.

“If Cliff's gone, standing around here sulking won't bring him back. So unless anyone minds,” she glanced at you, her gaze full of quiet anger. “I think I'll get back to _protecting humankind._ ”

The way she worded humankind was full of venom, spit directly at you. You look away, unable to bare the stares anymore. If Cliff hadn't brought you along, he wouldn't have had to worry about protecting you. He'd be here.

She transformed and turned to speed off, but Optimus stopped her.

“Arcee, it would be wise to bring (Y/N) with and keep a low profile for tonight. I'm sure our small friend is hungry and in need of recharge.”

She sighed, turning a mirror in your direction. “You heard him. Hop on.”

Hesitantly, you get back onto the seat of Arcee, and she immediately slams on the breaks and speeds off. You're gonna have to get used to the hard starts, these bots don't play around.

“Optimus,” Ratchet says as he steps forward, watching Arcee and (Y/N) disappear in the sun-glazed distance.

“You saw what happened simply for saving (Y/N). Helping humans will only result in more tragedy.” 

Optimus mulled Ratchet's words over for just a moment, his eyes still trained on your shrinking silhouette.  
“Your opinion is noted,” he said to Ratchet, who only sighed.

 

The two of you sped into town in silence. You didn't bother trying to bullshit, you knew she didn't want to hear your voice. Honestly, you wanted to be left to your thoughts, anyway. You felt your stomach lurch in hunger, and sigh.

“So you need some kind of nourishment? Where would I go to get that,” Arcee asks, monotone, as you drive through the street. She's obviously not used to small talk, and definitely not with another alien species.

“Uh...I guess we can just stop at Knockout Burger down the street. Their burgers are pretty good.”

“What's a burger?” Arcee asked, unimpressed.

“Um...”

Just then, two cars turned a corner and pulled up behind the two of you, both dark purple. Something told you they were Cons.

“Twins,” Arcee announced, and you nodded, holding onto the handlebars tightly, in case something happens. 

Already they were back on your ass. Is this how it's going to be from now on?

She parked in front of the building, and you jumped off, looking over at her as you set the helmet across the bars.

“Just make it quick,” she whispered, and you nodded and opened the doors to the inside of the restaurant. 

As you did, you bumped into a tall figure. Looking up, a boy who looked to be in his teens dropped something. You quickly pick it up and notice it was a Knockout Burger name tag, with the words 'Hi, my name is Jack Darby' on it.

“Here, I'm so sorry,” you say before hurrying into the establishment. 

You hear him mumble a 'no problem' as the doors close. You approach the front desk where people were taking orders. Thankfully, nobody was in line, so you quickly ordered a burger, fries, and drink.

While you waited, you realized you desperately needed to use the bathroom. You push open the 'female' signed door and immediately smell something foul, waving your hand in front of your face. Of course. You picked out the cleanest stall you could find, carefully placed toilet paper along the ring of seat, and softly sat yourself over it. Then, you pissed as fast as your body physically could.

Once you came out, your order was ready. You paid for your food and glanced out the window of the building as you headed for the door. That 'Jack' kid was rubbing his hands all over Arcee! What the hell?

Okay, he didn't know, of course, but you can't imagine what that feels like to her. Was it sensual...? 

Then, he swung a leg over the seat and sat on her. Okay, too far.

You shook your head from your thoughts, and march right through the doors, ready to give him a piece of your mind. You then realized there were two girls approaching as well, and you freeze in your tracks. This should be good.

“Are you talking to your motorcycle?” the girls laughed. You smirk, and cross your arms.

Arcee could wait a minute or two; the Cons wouldn't possibly show themselves to humans, right?

“My motorcycle? _N-no!_ I mean, yes!” he looked at them desperately, and you rolled your eyes. “Yes, it's mine! But uh, no! I'm not talking to-- I...I am.” he rubs the back of his head, defeated. 

“How's things, Sierra? Take you for a spin sometime?” he tried to come back from that horribly cringe-inducing moment. Tough luck, kid, the girl doesn't look interested.

You could see the twin Decepticons pulling up across the street. Shit. This guy needs to wrap it up. He's bombing, anyway.

“You...know my name?” Sierra asked, raising an eyebrow, clearly creeped out.

“We're in home room together! I'm Jack...Jack Darby?” He looked at her, puzzled, expecting her to remember.

You shook your head. He'll learn that girls are bitches one day.

Just then, bright lights blinded you momentarily. You squinted over to see the two Cons speeding towards you and the group. You hear Jack scream as Arcee revs her engines, and he's bumped to the back as she speeds over to you. You jump on, grabbing onto the handles tightly.

“Go, go, go!” You yell, and she does just that. She does a harsh U-turn, heading straight towards the two vehicles.

Jack clings to you for dear life, shrieking as you speed through the small gap between the Cons, just barely squeezing through and heading into the street. They quickly pursue you.

You turned your head to glare at Jack. “Good job there, slick,” you growl.

“Do not let go,” Arcee cuts you off, warning the kid. Jack stares at you in panic.

“Who said that?!” he yelled over the engines, eyes wide with shock.

The twin Cons raced forward, now on either side of you both. Arcee eases on the gas, lagging behind as the two cars attempt to hit Arcee between them, instead hitting each other. While they reciprocate, she speeds forward, turning into an alleyway. 

She turns to a halt, and Jack immediately steps off of her. 

“What... _are_ you?” he asked, keeping his hands up in front of him as if it was some kind of defense.

“I don't exist. Tell anyone about me, and I will hunt you down,” Arcee threatens, and you feel her engines rev quietly in anger.

This can't be good. Another human that's seen the Autobots? You were enough trouble for them, but a teenage boy knowing? Who knows who he'd tell.

Jack stumbles as he runs off down the alley, glad to be away from her. She quickly starts to drive as the Cons begin to catch up.  
Looking into the rear view mirror, you can see one car turn down the way Jack went.

“Shit, they're going for Jack!” you warn her.

“Scrap,” Arcee curses(you think it was a curse), and does a quick U-turn towards the vehicon. 

She speeds towards a ramp in the road, soaring up over the car. You let out a small scream, not prepared for the height. She turns down the alley Jack went down, and sped towards the vehicle. You hold onto the handles in shock, still not used to this fast-paced batshit insane life, bracing for it. She rides up the back of the car, over the hood, and you barely can keep your ass on the seat as she lands onto the road, speeding up next to Jack.

“Hop on!” she yells, and you grab his arm, helping to haul him over and onto the back of her seat.

He screams as you round the corner, heading straight for the highway exit just down the road.

You can hear their guns shooting at you, and see red beams fly past you, gasping in shock as one almost hits you. You lower your torso, trying to be as close to Arcee as possible.

“Why are those guys shooting at us?!” Jack yells over the wind and engines.

“There's no us, kid,” Arcee says as she weaves through the traffic. “And there are no 'guys'.”

You can hear a loud crash from behind, and crane your neck to see Bumblebee in his sports car form crash into the twin vehicles. He spins back, still racing along the road, and is able to swivel his face to the front, easily catching up to the three of you.

“Friend of yours?” Jack yells nervously, and Arcee simply responds with “Family.”

You look down at the handlebars, staring at it quietly. Arcee seems so cold to you, but Cliffjumper's words always echoed in your head. 

She'll warm up, don't worry.

You watch as Bumblebee weaves along the roads, cutting the cons off each time. They eventually got sick of it and ram into him, and he grinds against the small gating that separated the road from the edge.

You were approaching construction cones where the bridge cut off. You braced for impact, ready for whatever Arcee would do. She went right, using the curve of some equipment to send her flying over the gate, and onto the dirt slope. Jack was screaming in your ear, again, as the three of you raced towards solid ground. She sped right over another edge and landed on the ground, just under the bridge, speeding to a stop. 

Right in front of a little boy. The kid dropped the controller for the small toy car he was playing with and grinned, only letting out an awed “Woah.”

Jack gasped for breath, slowly sitting up from leaning much too closely against you.

“You have no idea...” he said.

“Neither of you have any idea,” you snap back at him. He lifted his hands defensively, before getting off the motorcycle.

Just then, four headlights blinded you momentarily, and you looked over to see the silhouettes of the twin Vehicons over the sunset.  
They sped down the slope, jumping over the edge and transforming through the air, landing on their feet and causing small tremors in the ground. Their weapons blared, charged for fire. 

Jack and the kid stared on in surprise, and turned to watch Arcee transform as well with shocked, horrified faces. You almost wanted to laugh; you probably looked just as stupefied when you first saw these guys.

“This ends here, Cons,” Arcee threatens, and you usher the two out of the way as she sprints towards them. They immediately start to fire at her, red beams of light exploding at her feet and past her as she ran at them.

She lept up, kicking one right in the face. He groans as he hits the ground hard, and she turns to the other one. He shoots, but she dodges it, and kicks him hard in the chest.

“What are they?” the boy asks in awe, staring at the battle before him.

Jack shrugged. “Talking cars that turn into robots,” he said shakily. “...Or the other way around.”

You sigh, shaking your head to yourself. It's too late, they're involved now.

“I call them 'Transformers',' you say casually, and the two look at you with wide eyes.

Arcee punched the largest one in the gut.  
“This,” she growled. “Is,” she punched him in the face.  
“For,” another punch, this time the other side of his head.  
“CLIFF.” One last punch.

The con seemed barely touched by it, slowly looking back at her. She took a hesitant step back, trying to keep her ground.

She leaped back, landing on her hands and leaping once again to her feet as he shot at her, trying desperately to dodge the bullets. She was hit straight in the chest, and groaned as she fell on her back, sliding against the hard cement. You took a small step forward, ready to fight, thought you know you were no match; when another vehicle flew overhead, blinding your eyes once again with headlights as Bumblebee transformed and landed right on top of one of the cons.

His fist landed hard against the other vehicon, and sparks flew as metal scraped against metal. You took it upon yourself to run over to Arcee and check on her.

“Arcee, are you alright?” you ask, touching her arm in concern.

She glanced at you, rubbing her head. “I'm fine,” she hissed as she stood up and walked past you.

She'll warm up, don't worry, you repeat in your head, sighing as you approach the others again.

Bumblebee had the con's head under his shoe, moving it back to stand upright. There was a small crunching noise, and Bee lifted his foot to find a crushed yellow toy car under it. He looked at the boy and made a small, guilty buzz. The boy smiled reassuringly.

“No problem,” he said. “Really--”

Just then, Bumblebee was hit by yet another beam from the con. He flew back, landing on his face. 

The vehicons walked forward, one putting their foot against the back of his head and forcing him against the ground.

He turned to see two guns pointed directly at him.

You bit your nails, your heart beating rapidly. You felt your head twinge slightly, but stop short as you hear 'Leave him alone!” come from the boy.

The vehicons pointed their guns directly at the three of you. Jack slowly leaned down to say “Bad call,” to the kid. Was it really? Was it really a bad call, Jack?

Now it's your job to get these kids to safety.

You start ushering them along just as the con starts for the three of you. Running towards the sewer, you rush them along and watch as the con gets closer. They run into it, and you quickly hoist yourself into it as well and follow. You hear the clanking of metal, which sounded like chains dragging as large claws begin to curl around you. It snaps shut, missing you by an inch as you dart forward. 

You skid to a halt and turn to see his hand slide away quickly, and the sound of metal hitting metal just before Bumblebee leans down to gaze into the tunnel. You grin in relief at him, who makes some random chirping noises. You have no idea what it means.

“Thank you!” the boy says, and Bee buzzes in response before returning to the fight.

“Don't look back,” Jack said, touching the boys shoulder and softly prodding him forward.

“What did we just see?” the boy asks as he begins to rush along the walls of the tunnel, but you don't follow them.

“No idea and not sure if I wanna find out,” Jack responds, keeping a steady pace.

You watch them until they disappear. You turn and step up to the opening of the tunnel, peering out.

Arcee and Bumblebee were bracing for battle, just as you hear a loud honking. Bulkhead, the large green monster truck, rolled up and transformed, standing in the middle of them. “Who's ready to rumble?” he announced, stance ready.

The cons hesitated, mulling their options, before transforming and high-tailing it down the road. You watch as they speed past you, feeling the rush of wind through your hair. You step out as Bumblebee approaches you, leaning down to get a good look at you. He made a convoluted sequence of buzzes and chirps, and you just smiled at him. You have no clue what he's saying.

“What took you?” Arcee asked, looking at Bulkhead.

“Traffic,” he responded sheepishly.

 

“And the cons would've been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the humans,” Arcee finished, her arms crossed as the three of you reported what had happened.

You look away in shame. She probably meant the two kids you had an interesting debacle with, but you can't help but feel like a complete burden to these aliens.

Optimus, who stared quietly at the holographic green screen in front of him, twisted his head slightly in concern.

“Humans,” he repeated. As in plural.

Bee made a whizzing sound, lifting two fingers.

“Two boys,” Optimus softly said as he weighed his options.

“I guess the second one caught us in action? I don't know,” Arcee said, lifting a hand defensively. “Was a little busy at the time.”

“If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at grave risk.”

It reminded you of when Optimus wouldn't allow you to leave.

You remember what he had said. 'I think it will be best if you stayed here at all times from now on.'

“They can't stay here,” you pipe up, and the three of them look at you. You flinch back a bit.

“Er..what I mean is, they're just kids and probably have caretakers who look after them. They can't stay here, like I do.”

“Nevertheless,” Optimus boomed, turning to face you all. “We must find them before the Decepticons do.”


	6. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shitstorm inspires me to write god damn it. i took off the fucked up prologue and chapter stuff im not gonna bother with that anymore.  
> hope you enjoy!

“So then, what do you propose we do?” Arcee grumbled sarcastically, crossing her arms. “Pick them up after school?”

“Exactly,” Optimus stated. You feel your chest drop.

“What.” you and Arcee both seem to say simultaneously.

“You will each go to their childrens’ school and retrieve them. Bring them here undetected and we shall discuss these matters with them in person.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea either,” you quickly try to cut in. “Their parents could be picking them up.”

“Parents?” Optimus questioned, looking over at you curiously.

Shit, they really don’t know anything about humans, do they?

“Caretakers, uh, the people who are raising them to become adults?” you slowly tap your chin, hoping that sounded familiar.

“I see. On Cybertron, we Autobots know this term as a Carrier. But your humans’ way of caretaking is rather different from our own.”

“Oh? What do you mean? A carrier, as in like a carrier of the child? Do you take care of– I mean–” you mentally slap yourself in the face for just asking the leader of the Autobots how they raise children.  
You can feel your cheeks heat up already as Optimus gives you a rather questionable look.

“Uh, besides the point, their parents will be concerned and might call the police. You don’t want them involved.” you finally finish, having had your fair share of negative reinforcement experience.

“The police is hardly a concern right now,” Arcee snapped, turning to Optimus. “What will we do if the Cons don’t play by those rules, then? They sure don’t seem to mind targeting (Y/N) or those kids.”

You feel something inside you burn with every god damn time she does that. Whats her problem? You’d ask her if she wants to duke it out but she’d clearly kick your ass and you really just want to make this work for now. If you’re going to be held here against your will, you need to figure out how to at least make peace with her.

“Megatron is well aware of the potential hazards that alerting the intelligence of this planet can bring,” Optimus said. “But I am not sure how we can–”

“I’ve got it handled,” you hear Ratchet call from his computer, suddenly making his presence known.

Was he there before?

“I’ve retrieved recorded calls from the humans’ parents in their school’s database, and relayed them to the school again. Something about ‘aunts’ and 'cousins’ picking them up and whatnot, but it’ll have to do.”

You feel your mouth drop for a moment, completely forgetting the extent of what these robot’s technology could do. It far surpassed the kind you had here on Earth, that’s for sure. Ratchet had that done in minutes! He was certainly the most intelligent one here.

“Very well,” Optimus boomed. “Ratchet, determine the closing time of the school. Arcee, Bumblebee, and (Y/N) will have to go and retrieve them.”

Wait.

“Uh, why do I have to go?” you ask, feeling your cheeks burn in shame when the others stared at you.

“Being a human, you are much more knowledgeable than we Autobots on your kind. It would be greatly appreciated if you can provide some insight along the way,” Optimus said as he lowered himself to one knee again to stare at you.

You feel yourself burn up even more and stare at his blue helm instead. He was the only one who did that. Knelt down to your level. You know he was meaning to only make you feel more comfortable…but you can’t help but feel even more looked down on. The fact that he has to get on his knees to address you really rubs you the wrong way, and you don’t know why.

“Alright,” you finally say, and he nods towards you, his expression remaining firm.

“Get a good night’s sleep, (Y/N). It is going to be a long day.”

 

The next day was terrible. You had nowhere to sleep, and the reminder of Cliff being as kind as to let you sleep on his leather seats made you unbearably depressed. You were forced to sleep on the metal berth that you originally woke up on, and your back was killing you. You honestly had not felt more sore in your entire life. And of course, you woke up to Ratchet’s incessant poking and prodding.

“What do you want?” you groan, trying to swat his large hands away.

He pokes you in the side, and you automatically flinch away from the cold metal. He nods and types something down. What the hell is he doing?!

“Ratchet, _please,_ ” you whine like a child who doesn’t want to go to school. “I don’t feel good.”  
“Quit complaining,” Ratchet mumbled.

“What are you doing?”  
Checking your vitals. You still seem to be in perfect health, which is a huge difference from when you arrived here. You’ve even improved on some things. Your respiratory system is in optimal shape, and it’s almost as if your muscles work on their own accord.”

“What does that even mean?” you ask groggily, stretching your sore limbs and groaning.

It’s like your entire body has tightened, your limbs are so sore you can barely move them!

“You’re getting stronger by the day, it seems,” Ratchet says.

“What?” you chuckle, slapping his nearby resting hand in delight. He slowly moves it away, giving you an odd look. “You’re hilarious, Doc.”

“I’m being serious,” he says, staring at you with total, unimpressed sincerity.

“How can I just 'get stronger’ without working out?” you laugh incredulously. “I wouldn’t even be able to lift your hand.”

“Do it,” Ratchet states simply.

“What?” you look at him.

“Lift my servo. I won’t move a muscle.”

You blink a few times, before it finally clicks, and you almost double-take at him. He really thinks you can lift the weight of his hand, coupled with the weight of his dead arm? No. Absolutely no way.

Your body convulses in laughter. “O-okay, Ratchet,” you say through bubbly tears. “I’ll lift your 'servo’!”

You stand up and take a mocking deep breath, flexing your 'muscles’, pretending you’re building up some kind of willpower. Ratchet rolls his eyes, clearly not entertained by your obviously hilarious joke.

You lean down and grip the sides of his palm, his curled fingers softly brushing against your abdomen. It sent little butterflies through you, and you quietly cursed yourself for it as you heaved.

Groaning, you lift as hard as you can. “See, I can’t even get it off the–”

You had it. His servo was in your hands. You had lifted his entire palm up with seemingly no effort. He has to be playing a prank on you, right? This was absolutely ludicrous. You’re not some comic book character. You didn’t fall into a vat of toxic goo and become some overpowered hero. How were you doing it otherwise? He was joking.

“You’re just fucking with me,” you say and drop his hand, which lands with a loud 'thud’.

Ratchet seems shocked, as if even he didn’t expect it. _He sincerely looks surprised._

_You actually lifted his hand._

“Hold on,” you say, mostly to yourself, as you carefully climb down the berth recharge. You head over to one of the very large scrap-balls Bulkhead and Bumblebee play with, and reach for it.

You easily lift it over your head, and throw it against the wall. It crashes against it loudly, much harder than you thought you threw.

“No fucking way.” You slowly gawk at your own hands. “This can’t be possible.”

“But it is. I have no idea how, but it’s happening,” Ratchet puts a hand over his forehead. “I’ve completely thrown science out of the window, at this point.”

“I didn’t know science was still a viable option to you,” you said, looking up at him.  
You truly thought science was in it’s grave at this point. You’re hanging out with 30 foot robots that are waging a war and use glowing blue crystals as energy. Nothing felt like reality, honestly, it felt like you were just part of some big series on TV.

Clearly it’s not the case, but it was way too jarring to feel real.

“Of course it is. Science is always the answer,” Ratchet says with a hollow laugh. “I just need to figure out why you’re turning out this way. It must have something to do with the energon you came in contact with.”

You put your hand to your chin in thought. Maybe it was having an opposite effect on you? Ever since then, you’ve been having strange bouts of headaches that blur your vision, and it’s saved your ass on more than one occasion. This can’t be healthy for your body. The energon is having some kind of weird effect on your body- both positive and negative, and you’re afraid for how it will turn out in the long run. Will it bite you in the ass later? Is it like alien steroids where you get super strong but then lose your dick size?

You shake yourself from your incredibly ridiculous thoughts.

“School should be over soon,” Ratchet says.

“Yeah,” you sigh. “I feel bad for those kids. They have no idea what they’re getting into…”

“You don’t either,” Ratchet says, before turning to the holographic screen behind him. That sent a cold feeling through you. You really don’t know what you’re getting into.

 

You were assigned to ride with Arcee to the school. Of course. Why did Optimus insist on keeping you both together? She clearly doesn’t like you, and certainly isn’t excited about picking up the kids after school.

The drive there was quiet. Arcee didn’t say much to you. When you pulled up to the near-empty school parking lot, you realized you were a bit early. Bumblebee hadn’t even pulled up yet.  
There was a girl sitting on the concrete ledge of the stairs. She had a notebook out, and seemed to perk up when you pulled up. Immediately, she pulled up her pencil and began to sketch.

You hear Arcee softly sigh, clearly aware of the attention she was receiving. “Sorry,” you nervously say with a smile. Arcee just scoffs.

The two of you sit in silence, the sounds of the city being the only ice-breaker. You tap the side of her handlebars awkwardly, looking around and gritting your teeth. You have to say something. You have to, or it’s always gonna be like this.

“Arcee–”

“Don’t start, (Y/N). I’m not interested in what you have to say.

Your mouth hung open mid-word, staring in shock. “But–”

“Look, I’m done sugar-coating it for you. _I. Don’t. Like you._ Got it?”

You feel your heart sink into your chest. You thought you’d be enraged if you heard her say it to your face, but you’re honestly just sad, and disappointed. Cliffjumper really believed she liked you. You wanted to believe it, too.  
You see the teenager from before, Jack, step out of school and hop down the steps, passing the girl drawing what you assumed was Arcee and you. Hey, maybe she thinks you look cool on it?

You hear someone call him and turn to see the boy from before as well, sitting under a tree. Jack approaches him and seems a bit uneasy. You glance over at the girl, who's still staring at you. She quickly glances back at her notebook, getting back to doodling. Probably hoping you hadn't seen her.  
Suddenly, Arcee pulls forward quickly, catching you off guard. You grip her handles tightly as you drive silently down the road, glad to no longer be under that other kid's eyes. You can see Bumblebee as the kid climbs inside him and the yellow vehicle whizzes off.

You pull into the alley and see Jack up ahead.  
Pulling in front of him, he freezes, staring in shock.

“Relax. I just wanna talk to you,” Arcee says.

“Don't you mean you and your friend?” Jack sarcastically says, motioning towards you. 

“Kid, there's a lot you don't understand,” Arcee blandly says, and you nervously step off of her, feeling the urge to stand. You're not her friend, and just being called that reminded you too much of it, and sitting on her casually felt a bit strange.

“No, I get it- the first rule of robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club,” Jack lifted his hands cynically, backing up.

He turns, beginning to walk down the alley. You quickly start following, hearing Arcee's engines rev as she followed as well.

“What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of crazy talking vehicles following me around, trying to get me killed!”  
You feel Arcee's frustration as she transforms, kneeling down to stare at the boy.

“Look,” she booms, and Jack turns around in shock. “Jack, is it?

“Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence,” Arcee pleads firmly.

“Wait-- Optimus who?”

“You may be in danger because you are one of the few, one of the only who have ever seen us.”  
Jack glances at you momentarily. He opens his mouth to speak, and-

“Dude! What are you waiting for?” you hear a feminine voice yell, and jerk your head towards the end of the alleyway where the girl who had been drawing before peeked around the corner, a huge grin plastered to her face. “Go with!”  
You, Arcee, and Jack seem to stare dumbfounded for a moment.

“Shit,” you groan, and hear Arcee mumble “Scrap” at the same time as you. Was that a robot swear? You hope it's a robot swear.

So you find yourself with Jack behind you on Arcee, soaring down the highway behind Bumblebee, as the girl from before shoves her entire upper body out of Bee's window to scream in delight.  
“And why, exactly, are we taking her?” Jack yells to the two of you over the loud wind.

“Rules,” you and Arcee both seem to say in unison for the second time that day.

He screamed as you both soared toward the rock ahead, and you chuckle to yourself, remembering when you had that experience for the first time. It really is something.  
As you all drive through the tunnel and into the main control room, Ratchet stares down at you all with judging eyes, while Bulkhead looks curious. Of course, Ratchet is probably pissed that he has to watch after three more kids.  
The three of them were in awe at their new surroundings. It was nice to see someone else's excited face as they saw it all for the first time. You had a panic attack when you woke up in here.

“I thought there were two,” Ratchet notes curiously.

“Haven't you heard? Humans multiply,” Arcee says sarcastically with a hand on her hip. You roll your eyes.

You slowly take a step away from the three others. The boy looks up at Jack excitedly, extending a hand.  
“I'm Raf!” he says. Jack doesn't take his hand, rude, so you go in for the shake. He looks up at you in surprise, but it's replaced with a grin. 

“(Y/N)” you say with a warm smile.

“I'm Miko! Who are you?” said the girl as she approaches Bulk.

“Bulkhead...” he slowly says, unsure of what to do.

She gasps. “Are you a car? I bet you're a truck. A monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball for a punching bag?” she asked all at once, staring up at him with stars in her eyes. Bulkhead looked...overwhelmed.

“So, if you guys are robots, who made you?” Raf asks curiously. You feel like that might be a slap to a transformers face, and your theory is correct when Ratchet scoffs loudly.

“Puh- _lease,_ ” he drones, already aggravated. You hear loud, thundering steps as the leader of the Autobots step forward.

We are autonomous robotic organisms,” Optimus goes on to explain.”From the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots.”

“Why are you here?” Jack asks.

“To protect your planet from the Decepticons.”

“The jokers who tries to bump us off last night,” Arcee explains to Jack.

“okay...why are they here?” Jack questions, confused.

Optimus leans down to his level, and you can't help but stare at him. He goes on to explain more, and they ask questions as well, and Optimus always has a straightforward answer. He explains that he has been fighting against one who he used to consider a brother, which you can only assume is Megatron.

While he speaks, something tugs at the back of your brain. You blink and shake it off, trying to concentrate on Optimus's words. Suddenly, it was back full force, a strong tingling creeping down the back of your head and down your spine. You shiver, holding your arms and staring at the ground in shock, feeling a bead of sweat begin to form on your temple. What's going on??

You feel your field of vision go hazy for a moment as an image appears on the threshold of your imagination. An autobot with sleek, gray metal and glowing red eyes. He stares straight into your soul with a sickening smile. “I have returned.”

You feel the weight of your legs give under you.


	7. Dreams of Dark Energon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you, the autobots, and those kids cover a lot of ground and make a game plan for the night. a bit boring, but hey, who doesn't have lulls in their life?

“Plucked from cosmic shores. Gaze upon... _dark energon._ ” The large transformer growled, and Starscream stares at it in intimidated awe.

“Legend tells that it holds the power to...revive the dead,” he announces.

“We require only a cadaver to be certain. Are you willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?” The larger one glanced down at him with a sickening smirk.

“That...may not be necessary. If I may, Lord Megatron.” Starscream chuckled nervously, turning towards the elevated platforms.

A platform synced with the current level and Decepticons revealed their slab of meat. Cliffjumper lay in bad condition upon the metal berth, eyes closed and mouth twisted in agony.

“Consider it a 'Welcome Home' present.”

*

Before you even realize you were dreaming, you were plunged into sweaty darkness. You feel yourself jerk instinctively and open your eyes, breathing hard.

“Are you ever going to wake up peacefully?” Ratchet grumbled, staring straight at the monitor. 

“Ratchet,” you gasp, clutching your chest. “I had the weirdest dream...”

“Dream,” he repeated.

“I saw Starscream. And...and someone else. He was big, and had bright red eyes. Cliffjumper was there, and there was something else,” you slowly say, unsure of your own words.

“It looked like energon, but it was purple...”

The metal piece Ratchet had been holding dropped from his servos, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. Almost everyone in the room seems to turn towards the two of you.

“I see that our friend has recovered successfully,” Optimus says as he approaches you. You sat upon the berth so he did not feel obligated to lean down to your level.

“Y-yes, but...” you slowly say, ready to explain the dream again when Ratchet cuts in.

“But she was a bit shaken up upon awakening. It seems the energon is still taking long-term effect over her body,” Ratchet mulls as he types away on a monitor. 

Okay, what is his problem? Does he not want you to tell the others about the dream you had? It kinda seemed important, but maybe he just thought you were crazy. Maybe you are crazy. Maybe you're just losing your sanity due to the energon that seeped into your hand like it was a paper towel, and your body is slowly shutting down due to trauma and inability to process such an alien substance.

Optimus nods and turns his back to you, facing the three children stationed in the middle of the room.

“(Y/N) here has been one of the only humans to have discovered our presence,” Optimus continued, “And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night the Decepticons know of yours, as well.”

“Got it. If we spot any strange vehicles, call 911,” Jack sarcastically says. “Can we go now?”

“Are you insane? I'm living the dream here, in _Botsuana!_ And I will not allow you or anyone else to shatter it!” Miko spits at Jack, who looks concerned and confused. 

You scoff and roll your eyes. These children sure do have mouths on them. But you did when you were their age, too. Do these kids even know what they're getting into? You sure as hell don't and you've already experienced some of it. Do they think this is part of their Saturday morning cartoon program? It seems that the girl is the one who thinks she's living a movie. At least you think Jack is aware of the weirdness in all this and wants nothing to do with it, but she's absolutely stoked. 

“It is best that you three remain under our watch. At least, until we can determine our enemies intentions.”

Ratchet gave you a stern look before turning away. He must not want you to say anything, but why?

“Optimus, with all due respect, the human children are in as much danger here as anywhere,” he said, motioning towards them. “(Y/N) may be an adult human, but these ones don't know the first thing about responsibility or self-defense.”

“Children?” Jack scoffs in disbelief.

“Don't know the first thing about self-defense? What do you call this?” Miko did a stupid pose with her foot in the air and hands positioned in defense as she makes ninja sounds. Wow, real admirable.

Ratchet stared for a moment before returning to gaze up at Optimus.  
“They have no protective shell. If they go underfoot they'll go... _squish._ ” He finally finishes with disgust.

He shifts his feet at the exactly wrong time, because the three seem to flinch at his movement.

Optimus did not seem very amused by any of this. His concern for the lot of you was astounding.  
“Then for the time being, Ratchet, we must watch where we step.” he stated firmly.

Just then, green lights began flashing within the room. You glanced around curiously as Ratchet returns to you and the monitors.

“What's that?!” Jack asks, beginning to panic.

Bumblebee began to explain to him, but it just sounded like buzzes and chirps as he motions his hands, as if that would somehow convey his message any clearer.

Jack stared, his lip twisted upwards in confusion.

“Proximity censor,” Raf explained. “Someone's up top!”

You glance over at him in shock. How did he register what Bee had said? Were you the only one to notice that?

“It's agent Fowler,” Ratchet seemed to groan as the image of a helicopter landing on a rocky platform appears over the monitor.

Agent Fowler? Was this the grump that Cliffjumper mentioned once on patrol? The only other human that knows of their existence. 

“Special Agent Fowler is our designated liaison to the outside world. As he tends to visit only when there are...'issues'.” Optimus went to explain, and you could tell he was mentally preparing himself to see the man.

“It may be best if you do not meet him at this time.”

Quickly, the three began to run towards the metal berth you were stationed at and hide behind it. You shift yourself and let your body fall over the edge, feeling your feet land unexpectedly smoothly onto the concrete. You motion for the kids to get behind you as you peek over the edge.

The elevator's door opened to reveal a heavyset man who looked to be in his early forties, and he stepped out, striding towards the group with a scowl on his face.

“Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender benders, a three hour traffic jam, numerous reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown maker, and a black-and-yellow custom muscle car. And of particular note; a red Challenger literally becoming a monster and kidnapping someone's daughter out the window of a three-story apartment complex.”

You watched as Ratchet glanced at the medical berth then back at Fowler. Boy, were you gonna get a stern talking-to after this. You had been wondering if that little scene was gonna catch up to you.

“So, anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?” He finishes, staring up at Optimus accusingly, his hands gripping the yellow rails.

You could sense the air become even more tense as Fowler stared right up at the leader of the Autobots. Everyone seemed to grow angry at his rude comment, including you. Optimus was doing all in his power to keep these guys at bay, and one grumpy old man thinks he's better than anyone else to criticize your friends.  
Of course, no Autobot would ever hurt a human, so he probably has some weird superiority complex in thinking they won't touch him.

“We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler,” Optimus says with firm calmness as he leans down to look at the man.

“They're back, aren't they?” Fowler asks.

“If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts they ever left. Your planet is much too valuable.”

“Then, it's time to wake up the Pentagon.”

The Pentagon was a literal pentagon of land used for offices, but held over 20,000 specially trained militants. At some point you were afraid of police getting involved; but now, you realize just how stupid it would be for anyone human to be involved in the first place.

“Hear me, Agent Fowler. We are your best- possibly only- defense against the Decepticon threat,” Optimus pleads, and Fowler wasn't having it.

“Says you,” he retorts with determination.

“Hey, Fleshie! Did anyone get splattered on that freeway? Team Prime knows when to use force,” Bulkhead pipes up angrily, grabbing the laser/claw-looking invention Ratchet had been working on previously and tearing it from it's sockets.

Ratchet puts two servos over the sides of his helm in despair.

“And how much to use,” he says, gripping it so strongly his fist shook as the claw pops off like it was nothing.

“Bulkhead, I NEEDED that!” Ratchet wails in anger.

“Enough,” Optimus booms loudly, clearly not entertained by the two's antics, turning back to Fowler.

“Military involvement will only result in more catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler- I, however, can not” Optimus firmly stated, staring right at the man. 

Optimus's concern for human safety was admirable, but you wondered if Optimus understood that humans can be just as nasty as a Con can. Just in different ways.  
Humans have been the cause for horrible, horrible things through the millenia; and you wondered if Optimus was aware of your species' history.  
We've been blessed, but cursed with curiosity. Intense curiosity for the unknown; and if knowledge of these guys got into the wrong hands...who knows what kind of tests they'd want to perform.

Fowler seems unfazed by Optimus's size. “Then do us both a favor and handle this, Prime, under the radar-” He turned, strolled back into the elevator and pressed the button. “or I will.” the door closes.

The air around you seemed to release it's tight grip on your chest as everyone relaxes, glad to have it over with. The three kids left from behind their hiding spot, beginning to walk up the steps to the medical berth.

“(Y/N),” you hear a familiar, crotchety voice and turn to face Ratchet's wrath.

“Cliffjumper took you from out of your apartment window, in front of someone else-” he began, but seemed to stop short as a loud beep echoes from the monitor. 

He turns around to face it, and you watch as Cliffjumper's face appears next to a dot over a landmark.

“Blasted Earth tech!” Ratchet growls, turning back to face the group again. “Cliffjumper's signal popped back online.”

“Who's Cliffjumper?” Miko asks.

“How is that possible?” Optimus booms, stepping forward in concern.

“It isn't. Another bug; the system's chock full of'em.”

“If there's any chance Cliff's alive-” Arcee started, looking up at Prime. You also stare up at him in concern, unsure of what they're going to do.

“Ratchet, prepare sickbay. We may need it,” he said, stepping forward, only for a small feminine voice to yell out and stop him.

“Hey! What can we do?” Miko asks expectingly, looking up at him with a smile.

“Remain with Ratchet,” Optimus orders, and turns around again.

“Awww...” Miko slumps down, disappointed. 

Ratchet groans quietly, seeming just as upset about it as the kids. You can't help but laugh and move to cover your mouth, but he notices anyway and shoots you a look that could kill. You only smirk back at him, unable to hide your amusement.

He turns and types something hastily into the keyboard, and the ground-bridge began to light up in circles as the portal re-awakened.

“Autobots, roll out!” he firmly states as he starts towards the portal, transforming into his alt-mode as he revs towards the portal. Bullkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee all follow suit, transforming into their own modes as well.

“What just happened?!” Jack asks in disbelief, staring as they leave. 

“I transported them to the designated coordinates via the ground-bridge.” Ratchet explains simply, staring at them firmly.

“What's a ground-bridge?”

“A scaled down version of space bridge technology,” Ratchet responds with a grimace, clearly not happy with answering so many questions. You remember asking just as many, and him being just as upset with receiving so much curiosity.

“Since we don't currently possess the means or energon required for inter-galactic travel,” he began.

“You're stuck here,” Jack finished, and for once he didn't seem so dumb. “On Earth.”

“With the likes of you, yes,” Ratchet seems to spit venom as he glares down at him.

“But I've constructed the ground-bridge to enable travel from here- to anywhere on your planet.”

“Woah! Does it work for humans?” Ratchet asks, looking up at him with glinting eyes. He seemed the most intrigued out of them all by the technology.

“Naturally,” Ratchet mumbles.

“You mean I could just...shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?” Miko asks curiously.

“Within moments. In fact, allow me to send you there immediately, all three of you,” Ratchet says with a maniacal smile. Miko leaned back as he seemed to get in her space.

“Watch it, Ratchet,” she warns with an unimpressed glare, getting right back in his personal space, as well. He grumbles, turning around to work on his computer. You wonder if he's actually ever doing anything on that or just idly clicking to seem like he's busy.

Miko stared at him for a moment before turning around and putting her hands behind her back, walking forward casually. Sliding down the ladder, she strolls over to one of his machines, bending down to look at it.

“What is this, anyway?” she asks, pointing at it with a curious smile. 

“Broken, don't touch” Ratchet states as he walks past her, headed towards the sickbay and his monitor. 

She started to put a finger towards another one, and he gruffly lets out a “Don't touch that either” and she flinches away from it.  
You stare up at him from your spot on the metal slate, picking up loud and clear on his agitation and choosing wisely not to bug him.

You decide to quietly watch everything from the medical berth, keeping Cliff's seat warm for him if he does turn up. You imagine him coming through the portal with a stupid grin plastered on his face, despite being dinged up, and you smile to yourself.

“Is there anything in here we can touch?” Jack asks.

Ratchet was probably about to make some smart comment, when the monitor lights up in urgency. 

“How come you guys are using human computers?” Raf asks, still stationed at the top of the metal platform.

“It certainly isn't by choice. It was handed down by the previous tenants we inherited this former missile silo from. I make modifications as I see fit.”

The monitors continued to beep as more and more pop-ups occurred. Ratchet only sighs in defeat. He seemed tired, no longer in the mood for questions, or watching children.

“I think I can fix that...” Raf begins in uncertainty, turning to head towards the desk and sat down, pulling a laptop from his backpack and connecting it to one of the computer towers.

“ _Really?_ ” Ratchet says in complete disbelief, clearly not ready for any games. “You know this is complex technology, don't you? I mean it isn't a child's toy,” he said as Raf typed away on his laptop.

“Now try,” Raf offered with a smile.

The large red X's seem to close immediately and his previous work re-appears on the screen. He stares in shock, and looks down at him with slight unexpected reverence. Raf only stares up at him with a proud smile on his face, glad to see his computer working again.

All the while you can't help but have a terrible feeling in your gut. You desperately hoped the team would make it back in one piece..and possibly with their missing friend.

“Ratchet, bridge us back,” you hear Optimus over Ratchet's com radio. He immediately began to type away at his computer, and you watched as blue lights pop up inside the bridge again. “Use the arrival coordinates...now!”

He pressed a button on his keyboard and the bridge lit up with life, and in soared the four Autobot vehicles. You strained your gaze, looking for Cliff, but slumping down in more disappointment than you thought.

Ratchet flipped the switch to the bridge as Optimus finally entered last, and it disappeared in a flume of smoke. Optimus transformed, sliding across the metal platform with one hand and knee against the ground as he seemed desperate for escape. What happened...?

“Cutting it a bit close...how about Cliffjumper?” Ratchet asks in concern.

Bulkhead, Bee, and Prime look away. You feel your heart sink in your chest.

“Was that an explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come with next time?” Miko asks all at once, clearly pumped with adrenaline over what had just happened. You only felt your blood run cold rather than excitement for them.

That seemed to snap a nerve for Arcee. “Look-”

“Hey, hey, Miko, uh- let's go see what the bots...hide in their sock-drawers,” Jack makes the most ridiculous excuse you ever heard as he leads Miko away nervously. Hey, he really isn't that stupid.

“Seriously?” Miko was just as unimpressed with that excuse as you.

“Arcee...what did you see?” Optimus asks, looking down at her.

She puts her arms around herself, looking down the entire time. “Not Cliff. At least, not anymore. He was mutated...butchered. Like something from those Con experiments during the war-” Arcee grunts as she seems to lose her strength and grabs one of the platforms as she falls to her knees. 

Whatever she had seen must really have been terrible; the cold feeling in your veins only ran colder, prickling the hairs on your skin and giving you goosebumps. Bumblebee lets out a sad, but concerned buzz as he starts for her, and you instinctively step forward, too- but she lifts a hand defensively.

“I'm fine! Just...dizzy,” she said, clutching the side of the machine.

“Robots can get dizzy?” you hear Miko ask under her breath.

“Robots with emotions,” Raf said with an intrigued glint in his eye.

“Robots who can die,” Jack whispered, staring ahead at seemingly nothing.

Sitting on the large medical equipment, Arcee allows Ratchet to scan her. The blue light goes red as he finds something. “What is this...” he mumbled under his breath. Peering over the medical berth, you stared at the deep, pulsing purple mark on her hand. The purple veins etched across her hand looked exactly like how the blue energon did on your palm when you fell, moments before it seeped into your open wound.

“Don't know. Cliff was covered in it. Leaking it.” Arcee says, casting her glance away as Ratchet softly takes her hand in his to scrape a sample from her servo.

“Go take a decontamination bath,” Ratchet says as he observes the glowing purple liquid on his surgical knife. “Now.”

Bee puts an arm around her and she looks up, concerned, before being lead away. She seems to glance down at you walking past and you both make eye-contact for an awkward moment, before she's inside the chamber.

“O-Optimus, I hate to bug, but...no bars.” Jack pipes up, holding up his cellphone to the Prime.

“As security precaution, the silo walls isolate all radio-waves,” Optimus explains, looking down at him.

“Well, if I don't call my mom, like now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me,” Jack says, looking at his phone in concern. 

Optimus leans down to stare at Jack from his height. “Have you broken a law?” he asks, voice concerned for the boy. You can't help but smile at that.

“Uh...curfew,” Jack says with a sheepish look.”It's after ten PM.”

“I better get home, too...or I'll be grounded for a year,” Raf says.

“Earth customs. I hadn't considered,” Optimus says, and you hadn't either, surprisingly. You completely forgot that these kids were even kids for a moment.

“But the issue of your safety remains. Bulkhead, accompany Miko home,” he says as Bulkhead steps forward, nodding. 

Miko practically jumps with joy. “Awesome! My host parents will freak!”

“And maintain covert surveillance; in vehicle form.”

“Curb-side duty, got it,” Bulkhead states, but you can tell he was less-than thrilled about it.

Miko just groans in disappointment.

“Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf.”

Bee glances over at Raf, who smiles.

As Arcee exits the decontamination chamber, Optimus turns towards her. “Arcee- You'll accompany Jack,” he states, turning towards Jack, who seems uncomfortable with the idea.

“Still dizzy,” Arcee groans in an attempt to get out of this.

“You're fine, says your physician,” Ratchet waves a hand at her from behind, and she sighs and walks away from him.

“And Ratchet...” Optimus starts.

“Busy,” he says, his eyes on the monitor.

“There is no one else to watch over (Y/N), so you will keep an eye on her health, and I will accompany her outside of the silo,” Optimus finishes without skipping a beat, and Ratchet slumps down a bit.

“Haven't I already been doing that...?” he mumbles under his breath, but Optimus doesn't hear, or he ignores him.

“Autobots, roll out!” he says once again, and the three of them arranged for the children to go home.

Soon, the base was almost empty- leaving you, Optimus, and Ratchet alone together.

“Ratchet, do you know why (Y/N) had fallen unconscious earlier?” Optimus questions in concern.

“I checked her vitals when it happened. She was perfectly fine, I don't know what could have caused a spill like that,” Ratchet drones, turning towards the two of you. “Another inexplicable side-effect of the energon in her body, it seems.”

“But why is this happening to me? You said anyone who came in contact with it before was killed within hours upon impact. Why is this different? Why am I...lifting things? Feeling better than I ever have...landing on my feet from twenty yards in the air!” you clasp the side of your head, completely awestruck of your own ability once you thought about it.

“And that purple stuff on Arcee. It looked just like the stuff in my dream,” you finally finish, and Optimus looks at you in concern.

“Dream,” he repeats, and Ratchet sighs.

“Yes, Optimus. She had a dream. About Megatron,” he said.

“But she's never seen Megatron, how could she possibly have dreamed about him?” Optimus asks, turning his helm in his direction with a serious gaze.

“I don't know. The energon that took to her body is taking in a way I never thought possible. I'm trying to wrap my own head around it, but it seems there's nothing I can do to help (Y/N),” he said, putting a servo digit over the bridge between his optics. “I'm still learning about human anatomy.”

Has he been studying since you got here? Huh.

“Very well. We will have to keep an eye on you, for now, (Y/N), but you are free to recharge,” Optimus states before turning around.

“Wait,” you say, and he stops to look at you.

“I uh...alright. Is there anywhere else more, um, comfortable for me to sleep?” you ask, looking up at him and biting your lip hopefully.

“Under what conditions do humans typically recharge?” Optimus asks.

“Uh...well, for starters, we usually sleep in beds with a pillow and blanket. Uh...I could go for a toothbrush. Any old unused bathrooms around here?”

“Human waste disposals are down the hall, to the left of the first split” Ratchet responds with slight disgust in his voice. “One for both genders, it seems.”

“We will do our best to accommodate you to your needs, (Y/N),” Optimus says. “But for now, I must depart in search for energon deposits. Will you care to join me? You may recharge on the seats in my alt mode.”

The second time around receiving that offer wasn't quite as heart-warming. It was sweet of him, to say the least, but you couldn't help but think of Cliff and how he offered his leather seats as a bed on your first night here.

“I...That's okay. Thank you, though,” you say and stretch across the medical berth. “I can survive one more night on this thing.”

“Very well,” Optimus says and turns towards the circular hallway. “Ratchet-”

“Already on it,” Ratchet says as he types away on the monitor, and the ground-bridge re-appears. 

He silently steps forward and transforms into his truck form, speeding down the portal walls before the light once again dims, leaving you alone with the docbot.

“What a day,” you say awkwardly to try and lift the silence, but Ratchet just scoffs quietly. Seems the time for talk was now over.

“Well...I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Ratchet.”

You lay down on the metal slate, turning on your side and resting your upper arm under your head, your other arm softly resting against your ribcage. Nothing to break the ice-cold silence.

“Hm. The base elements of this _goo_ are like nothing I've ever encountered. It must be extremely concentrated to have affected Arcee so rapidly,” Ratchet mumbles to himself as he lifts a pair of pliers, staring at it in concern. “Unfortunately, complete results are slow-coming without the use of proper diagnostic tools, thank you very much, Bulkhead.”

Your roll your eyes, closing them again and trying to warm yourself against the cold metal. You swear you hear the sound of small gears running for a moment, but it slips your mind as you fall into uneasy sleep.


	8. Miko's your least favorite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your dreams are getting worse, and Miko is an idiot.

“Lord Megatron...” Starscream approaches nervously. The faint glow of purple splashes across their figures as Megatron gazes upon the display. 

“It's as if the blood of Unicron the Destroyer flows through my veins,” Megatron booms, a disturbing face of delight etched across his face.  
“As if...I hear his very thoughts. I now know what I must do.”

“What?” you gasp, looking around.

The memory of what just occurred danced on the horizon of your thoughts as your consciousness returned. Looking around you see only deep, deep blue everywhere. You find there is nowhere to step, nothing to grab. 

“Who are you?” an ear-shattering voice booms across the entire plain of imagination, vibrating through the entirety of your solid, fleshy body.

“Wh-what?” you say, your voice cracking in nervousness.

“ _WHO ARE YOU._ ” It booms. Explodes, echoes through your entire existence, shaking you to the core. It repeats itself, over and over in your ears, ringing loudly.

“I-I'M (Y/N)! (Y/N) (L/N)!” you yell back desperately into the darkness.

 _WHO ARE YOU. WHO ARE YOU. WHO ARE YOU. WHO ARE YOU. WHO ARE YOU._ The voices dance around you, their voices slowly distorting. You clench your head in a desperate attempt to ignore it, but almost scream as you practically stab the side of your head with your own hand.

Shakily moving your hand away from you, your heart sinks in shock as you watch glass stick straight from your skin; as if melded together. All the while the five voices surround you, echoing through your head. Whispers began to arise behind the layer of chanting, almost incomprehensible above the demands of self identification. 

_Kill. Fight. War. Blood._

Burning. Intense burning as you stare wide-eyed at your own arm as it bubbles up, your flesh melting away to reveal muscle and veins that sear black and reveal bone. But it's not bone, it's a mass of wires of different variance. And they pulse to the whispers.

_Ravage. Tearing. Flesh, metal. Blood. Kill. KILL._

_RAVAGE._

You're jerked back to reality, the gentle shake of a large servo to your shoulder being enough. You don't scream, or flinch, or slam your arm into a metal berth as you awake with a start. Groggily looking up you see two large blue optics staring right at you, and almost flinch back in surprise.

Optimus leans back slightly, but is still bending quite close into your personal space. 

“Good morning, (Y/N). I did not mean to startle you,” he apologizes, and you quickly shake your hands in a lazy attempt to write him off.

“N-no, no. You're fine, Optimus. Good morning,” you return his previous gesture and give him a small smile, to which he returns as well.

“How was your recharge sequence?” he starts, “Or as you refer to as 'sleep'.”

“It...” flashes of what felt so real just moments ago cross through your mind. “was okay. Was there a, uh, reason you woke me?”

“Yes. I have successfully acquired means for comfortable recharge.”

He _what?_

Next thing you know, he has lead you down the hall, to the left fork and right towards the bathrooms. You both pass them, thankful enough that Optimus didn't decide to make your room there, and stop in front of a massive door. Not massive enough for any transformer to enter, but it was quite large.

Optimus kneels down to your height and clicks open the door's handle, and it slowly creaks open. You look up at him curiously before stepping inside, gasping in shock at what was before you. 

A massive bed was stationed in the corner of the large metal room, filled with pillows of different size, color, and style, topped with a large quilt with an intricate design of forest animals on it. Next to it was a dinner table and lamp sitting atop it.  
Across from the bed was a potted tree that almost stretched to the ceiling, filled with peaches! There was a large dresser as well next to a small supply closet, along with a floral designed trash can next to it.

“Wow,” was all you could manage to say. 

“Is this not satisfactory?” Optimus asks, his head appearing through the door frame. The frame looked small compared to his massive size.

“No! This is more than satisfactory, Optimus, are you kidding?!” you say, turning to stare at him with wide-eyed glee.

“I mean, how in the hell did you manage to get a _peach tree_?! And all this stuff, where did you even get it all?”

“I used your Earth internet to find a website for human trade. I believe it was called 'Gregslist'. I relayed a meeting destination and used a holographic driver replacement to acquire these things, all of which were free of charge.”

You thought you couldn't be any more surprised, but you could feel your jaw almost hit the floor.

“As for the peach tree, there was a field of them growing outside of town and I carefully uprooted it and placed it into a large pot.”

“I...” you don't even know what to say to all of this. You wanted to scold him for probably taking someone's peach tree, but at this point you were way too flattered to do so.

You were never treated with so much kindness, not even your parents would give you an entire _room._

“Thank you so much, Optimus,” you finally settle with, and can't refrain yourself from jumping forward and wrapping your arms around that big head of his.

He freezes up slightly as the fabric of your clothes rub against the side of his helm, your arms wrapping around his neck as far as they can reach as you plant a kiss on his cheek. Dancing back into the room, you laugh uncontrollably as you enjoy your surroundings, doing a quick twirl to take it all in.

The table could be moved, the room was pretty large after all, and you can put an actual nightstand next to your bed. He must have mistaken a table to be the same, which was hilarious and adorable at the same time. You never expected the leader of the Autobots to do something this nice; you mistook him for a cold leader who was all business, honestly.

While you jumped around your room in delight, you don't notice Optimus watching you with great interest. Watching the curves of your waist as you moved, having never been so intimately close to such an alien creature. Your figure allured him.

But he swatted away any interest and stood back up.

“I am relieved to hear you are content with your new surroundings. I have also become aware that humans need proper hygienal care, so I am arranging for Ratchet to build a human's shower in the disposal unit.”

Again and again, he keeps astonishing you with his generosity. You can't help but continually thank him profusely as you walk through the halls.

You almost freeze as you hear Ratchet yell and cause a ruckus down the hallway, and look up at Optimus in concern. He nods down at you before starting ahead, and you quickly follow, easily keeping up...somehow.

You both end up at the end of the round hallway opening and watching in horror as some kind of small mechanical creature jumps at Ratchet. Optimus readies his gun and fires instantly, not wasting a second as the round hits the creature square in it's purple glowing face. 

Ratchet sighs in relief, and you seem to let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. Optimus steps forward, and you see the thing get back up.  
Before you could even warn them, Optimus stomps down hard on the thing, killing it instantly.

“And stay broken!” Ratchet growls at the thing, and you almost roll your eyes. “Now what could have caused _that?_

“I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet. I believe (Y/N)'s dream has warned us of this, as well. Dark energon.”

“What? But how-” Ratchet starts.

“If the residue Arcee found on Cliffjumper brought your broken equipment to life,” Optimus explains, closing the tab of a preservation enclosure on the dead mechanical creature.  
“It would stand to reason that the substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead.”

“Hm...that would account for his life signal inexplicably coming back online but, _dark_ energon? It's so scarce as to be virtually nonexistent. What would it be doing on Earth...?” Ratchet considers as he puts a servos digit to his chin. 

“It was transported by Megatron,” Optimus concludes firmly.

“For what purpose?” Ratchet asks incredulously, not quite sure about this theory.

“To conquer this planet by raising an army of the undead,” Optimus finishes with a grave expression.

Ratchet chuckles. “Well, Megatron will need to break quite a few toaster ovens. I mean, where, on this world, would he find that many Cybertronian dead?” his smirk showed that of ridiculousness, absolute disbelief in Megatron's idea of world domination.

You put your hand to your chin, wondering that yourself. Would he just build them himself? But wouldn't that be the human equivalent of making a homunculus? There couldn't possibly be an Autobot grave lying around here, it's not Cybertron.

Just then, three vehicles entered through the ground hall. As you all approached them, the kids got out of their respective accompaniments before they transformed into their alt modes.

“That was awesome,”  
“Can we go again?”  
“Sweet!”

They all seemed quite impressed with the bots, and you almost smirked to yourself. At least Jack was having fun with Arcee.

“Uhh,” Bulkhead proceeded to pull an electric guitar from his chest cavity, and Miko sheepishly took it from him.

“Autobots, prepare to-” Optimus began as he walked before his militants. He looked down at the three children staring expectantly.

“Roll out?” Arcee says, waiting.

“-Remain here.” Optimus finishes, turning towards the medic. “Ratchet, you'll come with me.”

You perk up, looking over at Optimus. “Does that mean I'm coming, too?”

“No, you will also remain here under the watch of Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee,” Optimus orders, and you slump down. No fair.

“Arcee, we'll be outside communications' range for some time, so I'm putting you in charge.”

“Dude! You're biggest, you should be the boss!” Miko states up at Bulkhead, who looks down at her.

“Um, he never picks me,” he says nervously.

“Optimus, with all due respect; playing bodyguard is one thing, but babysitting's another,” Arcee says, and Jack sighs before walking off. Don't worry you'll get used to it, kid.

“Besides, Ratchet hasn't been out in the field since the war.”

“My pistons may be rusty but my hearing is sharp as ever,” Ratchet fumed from the back.

“For the moment, it's only reconnaissance,” Optimus assures, his voice straining slightly.

“Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?” Arcee asks, looking up at him suspiciously. She can pick up on his slight emotional changes as well, it seems, and you were thankful to know in this moment.

“Arcee, much has changed in the last several days. And we all need to adapt,” Optimus states firmly, but you can tell there's some hesitance. “Ratchet? Bridge us out.”

He does as told, and the bridge begins to light up. They step towards it, not bothering to transform as they disappear behind the green and blue hues.

“Okay, chief, so uh,” Jack asks, swinging his arms casually. “What's on the activities list?”

“I'm going on patrol,” Arcee says, turning away from them.

“But Optimus told us to stay,” Bulkhead says uncertainly as she passes him.

“When you're in charge, you can call the shots,” Arcee says. “Bee, with me.”

Bumblebee looks down at the four of you before chirping in agitation, stepping forward.

“Bulkhead, you're in charge,” she said, transforming and racing down the hall, Bee following close after.

“So, uh...what's on the activities list?” Bulkhead asks nervously.

There's an ear-splitting screech as Miko plugs her guitar into an amp that you don't actually remember being there before.

“How about band practice?” Miko says, holding her guitar with a grin. 

“But we're not a band,” Raf says, his ears still covered.

“Why so anti-social? Come on, Raf! You play anything?” she asks as she walks over, smiling down at him.

“Umm...” Raf holds up his laptop. “Keyboard?”

“Laptops and samples, good! Jack?” she looks over at you and Jack.

“I...sometimes mess around on the harmonica,” Jack says with a coy smile, looking away with a hand behind his head.

“Do I look like I do country?” Miko glares over at him, not impressed in the slightest. “Just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming.”

Jack exchanges a strange glance with you before Miko is in your face, now, too.

“So what about you, then, motorcycle girl? Play any instruments?” she asks, batting her eyelashes at you.

“Uh.”

Motorcycle girl? Why on Earth did she call you that?! Just then, you remember the day you sat on Arcee while she drew you. Maybe she _did_ think you looked cool on it.

“I used to play bass,” you finally say. When you were in a band, in like, seventh grade. It's been years since you picked up one and actually strummed a bass guitar.

“Awesome! Bulkhead, percussion! We'll go for a big, industrial sound,” Miko said in delight. “DIY! We're a band. You just gotta learn the songs. This one's a ballad.”

She picked up her pick. “My fist, YOUR FACE.” And began to play a series of loud notes, the small screeches from the amp hurting your ears.

As she played, the proximity censor seemed to pick up again. Green lights flashed and you looked around in confusion.

“Woah, woah!” Bulkhead said, stopping Miko short.

“Come on, you can't handle raw power?” Miko asks, clearly already having forgotten about the encounter with Fowler.

“Proximity censor!” Bulkhead exclaims as the elevators begin to beep and pulling down the body of metal. “Quick, hide!”

You quickly push the kids along until you all were situated behind Bulkhead's massive shoe. You see that Miko brought her guitar along, and hope to God he doesn't notice the amp.

Fowler exits the elevator, looking just as pissed as ever.

“Prime!” he yells, putting his hands against the yellow railing.

“Agent Fowler, uh, he's not here. N-nobody's here!...Cept me, of course,” he says with a nervous chuckle. 

Oh good, he's not a good liar. This should go well.

“Where did he go? Wait, don't tell me. He's out pancaking a mini-mall?” he asks, walking forward a step or two.  
“Now I don't know what language you 'bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised he would handle the Decepticons. And blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska is _not_ what the word 'handle' means in English. So you tell Prime-”

He freezes, looking down at the screeching amp as Miko gently pulls at her guitar, hoping somehow to unplug it just from pulling at it.

“Since when are you 'bots electric?” he asks incredulously.

Jack shrugs before stepping out, and you try to stop him but he continues. You almost groan, grabbing your face in agitation before putting on a better smile and stepping out as well.

“Hey! How ya doin?” Jack asks casually.

“Contact with civilians,” Fowler groans, smacking the rail. “Team Prime has really gone off-book this time. Wait, don't tell me, you're running a daycare center?”

Bulkhead let out an exasperated sigh, unsure of what to do now.

“We're...interns,” Jack says, shaking a fist. Oh. My. God.

“Student interns!” Raf corrects.

“Earning extra credit in...auto shop?”

“Robotics,” Miko cuts over Jack's sentence with an innocent smile.

You would contribute to this ridiculous excuse, but you know a special agent is not going to believe any of this.

“Okay. Let's move,” he says, starting down the steps. “I'm taking all four of you into federal custody, it's for your own protection.”

Your heart skips a beat and you move to talk, but Bulkhead slams a foot down in front of you all protectively. You look up at him in shock as the ground shakes, a look of angry determination in his eyes.

“ _We're_ protecting them.” he says firmly.

“Is that so? Well maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the pentagon,” Fowler growls as he steps over to the telephone connected to the wall.

“Don't use that phone it's-” Bulkhead starts, leaning down and pushing his finger against it, crushing it instantly. “-Out of order.”

“This isn't over Bigfoot,” Fowler throws the phone in fury, glaring up at him. “Not by a long shot.”

He steps up the stairs and strolls into the elevator, turning and giving Bulkhead a thousand-yard glare before the doors close, and he's transported to the roof once again.

Bulkhead sighs in defeat, looking away. This certainly wasn't going to bide well if any military got involved, and it made you wonder if they'd be interested in your experience with energon. If they'd take you in for testing, or put you in quarantine.

“I told you guys to stay hidden,” Bulkhead says, turning towards you all.

“He wasn't gonna believe you were electric,” you pipe up, looking at him incredulously. 

Bulkhead rubs the back of his head, looking down at Miko's guitar. She smiled nervously, hiding it behind her back.

“If he gets other officials involved, they'll take you into custody,” Bulkhead said. 

“I'm sorry,” Jack suddenly says, which left you surprised. What does he have to apologize for? It was Miko's fault, honestly.

“Don't apologize,” Bulkhead sighs, turning around. “I should have been more responsible.”

You tilt your head, watching as he walks towards the medical berth. He stares at the machine he had broken previously, looking down again. 

You open your mouth to say something to him, but the lights suddenly start going crazy as alerting beeps sound off as well.

Raf covers his ears, unable to handle the intensity. “My ears!” 

“It's an S.O.S,” Bulkhead says urgently as he approaches the flashing monitor. “From Fowler! Uh...” he struggles to figure out which button to press as it continues to shriek in emergency.

“Did you trace it?” Raf asks.

“Location scan was incomplete. Oh well,” Bulkhead says nervously.

“ _Oh well_? Seriously?” Jack asks, raising his eyebrows at Bulk.

“Fowler's a jerk!” Bulkhead defends.

“Woah! Whether you like the guy or not, the Decepticons may have him,” Jack says in concern.

“And Agent Fowler knows your location,” Raf adds. “...Our location...”

“And did we not just witness how fast Fowler backs down from a 'bot? The 'cons will totally make him squeal,” Miko finishes.

“But we lost the transmission, Fowler could be anywhere!”

“Maybe I can narrow it down,” Raf says, sitting down to open his laptop. “About five years ago the government started microchipping their agents, you know, like owners do with pets!”

Everyone watched in curiosity, and you found yourself dumbfoundedly staring, too.

As he types, he looks up. “What? I saw it on TV! Anyway, if I can hack into the fed's mainframe, maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates.”

“You know how to hack?” you ask in shock.

“But you're like, 2 years old,” Miko says in disbelief.

“Twelve,” Raf corrects, fixing his glasses. “And a quarter!”

Raf quietly began to work, and everyone stood around tensely waiting. Finally, Raf perked up. 

“I've got something! Okay...”

Everyone seemed to gather around curiously to see a red dot on a map of what seemed to be the outside of the silo.

“Lattitude, thirty nine point five. Longitutde, one hundred and sixteen point nine,” Raf repeats as he types away on his computer.

Bulkhead copies it down onto the ground-bridge's keyboard, and the bridge immediately began to light up.

“Okay, wait here,” Bulkhead says, stepping forward.

“Aww, don't break up the band!” Miko complains.

Bulkhead steps up to the portal before freezing. “Uh...(Y/N), you're in charge!” he adds quickly before getting a running start and disappearing behind the portal's rays.

But you didn't hear him. You watched in shock as Miko follows after, looking around sneakily before disappearing into the portal as well. You quickly run after her.

You appear in the desert, quickly following her over to the rock she hides behind. “Miko!” you harshly whisper.

“Hey, this is my bonding time with Bulkhead,” Miko says, crossing her arms as she glares at you.

“Stop, Miko. We have to get back to the portal before it-”

looking back, the remnants of the portal had just disappeared through the air.

“...disappears.”

You can see the ship, along with several scouting Decepticons ahead. Miko peers out in curiosity, but you grab her by the back of her shirt and force her down.

As a scout slowly walks past, Miko grins as she peeks back out from the rock. “Alright! What's the plan?” she says with a thumbs up as Bulkhead looks over in shock.

“Miko!” he exclaims, pointing. You both turn to see a Decepticon pointing a charged gun right towards them.

“Uh oh,” Miko says.


	9. Miko's Alright, You Guess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i don't know why i've been shitting these out, i'm just obsessing over transformers right now and taking advantage of it i guess. hope you enjoy!!

“Get down, you two!” Bulkhead yells out, and you grab Miko's arm, practically dragging her over the rock and running just as he shoots and blasts the stone to pieces. 

“This way!” You yell, running towards a bend in the stone. 

He aims for you both again, and you can hear Bulkhead slam into him, but you don't bother to look back. Dashing behind a rock, you turn and expect to see Miko with you, but she was a few feet away lifting a large rock.

“Hold him still!” she yells as she drops the rock on him, barely making a dent. Bulkhead lifts her, moving her behind the rock you're stationed behind and dropping her rather ungracefully.

Standing up and dusting herself off, she got up next to you between the split in the rocks and watched in awe at the fight before you both. Bulkhead was at a stand-still with the 'con, pushing him by the arms.

“(Y/N), make Miko look away!” Bulkhead yells, and you blink in confusion.

As it clicks with you, you turn to Miko and attempt to cover her eyes. She shoots you a glare, forcing your hands away as she watches.

“Miko, you really don't want to see this!” you plead.

“But-” she says, her grip on your hands a lot stronger than she looks. 

“Turn your head away,” he orders as he thrusts his servo within the 'cons abdomen and pulls out a mess of steel organs and wires. The sparks bounce off Miko's eyes in reflection as she watches in complete awe.

The Decepticon falls into a mangled heap on the floor, blue liquid beginning to pool beneath him.

“Arcee, Bumblebee, do you read?” Bulkhead asks over his intercom.

“Loud and clear, Bulkhead,” Arcee responds over the radio.

“I have a situation,” he says desperately.

“Bulkhead, they're children. Humans! Just, do whatever.”

“I'm at the Decepticon base, with Miko and (Y/N).”

You hear the screeching of tires over his intercom.

“You're where?! _She's_ where?!”

Minutes pass as the three of you lay low, and you can feel Bulkhead's anxiety intensify with each growing moment.

“What's taking Arcee and Bumblebee?” he mumbles to himself. You look over at him, having been stationed on his shoulder.

“Dude, the cons could be putting the clams on Fowler right now!” Miko says, standing up from her position on his hand. “Let's just storm the joint!”

He sighs in relief as the ground bridge begins to pulse into existence, but his relief is replaced with despair as Jack and Raf appear. Your heart sinks in anxiety, as well. You feel kinda bad for this guy right now, being overwhelmed with a bunch of aliens asking him questions must be hard to juggle.

“Why don't those guys hang with their own 'bots? This is _our_ one-on-one time.”

Bulkhead just sighs, and you shoot her a glare. She just sheepishly shrugs and smiles at you.

“Are your bones vibrating?” Raf asks, looking up at Jack. They stop as sight of the ship becomes apparent, staring in shock.

“You, there!” one yells as him and a friend approach the edge of their docking station, pointing loaded guns right for the kids.

“Scrap,” Miko and Bulkhead say in unison.  
“Shit,” you whisper, in unison, as well.

You exchange a glance with the others, but stop short as your brain _twitches._ It actually seems to jerk inside your skull subtly, barely even a pull. As soon as you realized it was happening again, a stabbing pain shoots down your spine and you groan, arching your back, trying best to keep quiet. Bulkhead looks at you in concern, and Miko just crosses her arms.

“Okay, I knew you were old, but not _that_ old,” Miko comments, and you don't have the subconscious to call her a brat.

“M-my head,” you say barely above a whisper, slowly moving your hands to the sides of them.

“What? What's wrong?” Bulkhead asks urgently.

“I-I don't know” you say, doubling over as you put more pressure against it. The pressure wouldn't stop the pulsating, throbbing pain as it continued on for several long moments.

“What do I need to do?!” Bulkhead pleads at you, completely desperate for answers. He was stuck with four humans who could easily be smashed by a Decepticon. There was another one inside the actual 'con ship, probably being tortured. He was never going to get babysitting duty again after this.

_Behold the power of dark Energon._

The deep voice rung through your body like a drum, echoing through your head. The sensation of pulling, tearing, shredding; bodies being pulled from the ground. Dozens of them, their hearts all beating as one, beating with your own heart. Looking up, everything seems to be coated in a purple hue for only moments before regular color trickled back.

Suddenly, a barrage of lasers are being shot at the children. They desperately try to duck and dodge, but Raf is blown back onto his side. Your first instinct is to run out there, but Jack practically throws himself over Raf in a desperate attempt to keep him safe. 

You feel your body move and shift as Bulkhead transforms, your and Miko's bodies sliding effortlessly into the back seat. He races forward and skids to a halt in front of them, throwing open the door. 

“Get in. _NOW!_ ” he yells, and they don't think twice before piling into the truck.

The visions, the blackouts, unexpected strength and speed. How could your body possibly react this way? Energon was _dangerous for humans_. In fact, you wouldn't be surprised if it was being used as a torture method right now.

Your moment of thought was interrupted as pain shoots through your body once again. The feeling of unearthed bodies being ripped apart, the slight vision hazy on the field of your imagination of slicing metal body parts, blown open heads and chest cavities.

“Thanks Bulkhead,” you hear Jack and Raf say. You hold your pounding head, groaning in agitation. 

“What are you doing here?!” Bulkhead asks.

“We were worried about Miko,” Jack explains as he buckles himself in. “Have you seen her?”

“What's she look like?” Miko asks as she pops up from next to you.

Bulkhead skids to a halt behind a rock, throwing open his door. “And this time, _please_ wait here?”

You jump out with the others, and watch as Jack covers Raf with his own body again as the 'cons start to shoot at their location. You huff in unexpected admiration, not expecting him to be so protective.

“Where's Miko?” you ask, the pain in your head being forgotten for the moment.  
Jack and Raf look around curiously before their expressions become grave.  
You find yourself groaning, much louder than you intended to.

As Bulkhead speeds away towards the ship, dodging shot after shot, you can only watch in anticipation. He drives underneath the ship and towards a cliff, throwing himself onto it and climbing up towards the ship. You watch in awe as his steel muscles work themselves over each rock edge, before throwing himself onto the dock.

He reaches up, grabbing the leg of one at the edge and throwing him over. He falls, hitting part of the ship on his way down. He doesn't get up.

Jumping up onto the dock, he engaged in combat with a con, knocking him down with one powerful blow. You could barely see over the edge of the docks as he lifts it's body and uses the con as a shield, before stepping forward and disappearing over the ledges. You can hear the struggling, and soon Bulkhead approaches the ledge again to glance at you, Jack, and Raf.

“Where's Miko?!” Bulkhead yells out at you all. You shrug, but watch as he opens his chest cavity and Miko climbs out.

He lets her out onto the floor, and you can't hear what they say. But you can see a Decepticon approaching.

“Bulkhead!” you yell, and he glances down at you before being jumped by the 'con. Shit, that was your bad.

You can't see them anymore, and pray to whatever that could possibly be out there to save Miko. You can see a flap of metal cartilage fall off the ship, uprooting a cloud of dust as it lands hard into the earth.

“Think they forgot about us?” Raf asks, looking up at you and Jack. You can only breathlessly stare down at him.

You feel the ground shake slightly and turn around, eyes probably wide as dinner plates as two Decepticons reach for you. You yelp as one scoops you up with ease, holding Raf in his other hand.

As you all board the ship, they calmly traverse the halls. You look around, taking in the dark architecture. 

“Bring them to the brig. Commander Starscream is keeping the other human there,” the one holding Jack commands. 

You exchange a scared glance with Raf, unable to say anything to help him. The pain in your head has dissolved into a low thrum, but you never know if it'll come back. Agent Fowler was probably there, as well, maybe even half-dead.

But just then, two vehicles come speeding down the hallway and knock your 'cons over, sending you flying through the air. Arcee catches Jack and Raf with ease, but freezes as she watches you fall, her heart almost stopping. You twist your body in the air, smoothly landing on your feet without problem, and stand back up straight. She seems to sigh in relief and sets the two boys down.

“Bumblebee!” Raf exclaims, running up to his guardian. 

He whizzes and chirps excitedly.

“Appreciate you clearing the front door for us,” Arcee starts, her expression not as harsh as you'd imagine. “But storming the Decepticons warship was _not_ on the activities list.”

“Tell me about it,” Jack says incredulously.

They nod down at you before dashing down the hall. She turns the corner, gun raised, but shouts 'Friendly!' as you can hear Bulkhead's voice. You sigh in relief and run to catch up with them, easily bypassing the two teenagers on your way. The gentle thrum in the back of your head still pulsated quietly. 

“Brought the humans, huh?” Arcee asks him.

“ _You_ try getting them to stay behind!” Bulkhead says in agitation, motioning towards Miko in his hand.

“We need to find Fowler and get these kids out of here,” Arcee says.

“He's in the brig,” you, Jack, and Raf all say simultaneously. 

Before you knew it, you were surrounded. The hall was a battlefield, and you needed to get out of there, fast. You watch as Jack grabs the cuff of Raf's shirt and lead him away, quickly following after them. A decapitated head falls and covers your path. Grabbing Miko's arm, you try to yell over the fire but nothing can be heard over the sound of war.  
The four of you are stuck in the middle of this. You all stop dead in your tracks as Bulkhead is knocked onto the floor, throwing the 'con over himself as Arcee shoots him. Finally, the hall was empty and the sound of death was gone, but the sight of it surrounded you.

Running down the hall, you seem to keep up with the Autobots with ease, slowly leaving the kids behind to catch up. They knocked at the locked door rapidly until it opened, and a 'con calmly strolled over to see what the fuss was. Arcee blasted him straight in the face before entering, and all hell broke loose for the third time.

They cleared the 'cons out in seconds, and it was okay to go inside. 

“Wait in here,” she orders you and the three teens. Bumblebee protested in confusion, and Arcee shot him a look. 

“They're slowing us down, and they're easy targets,” Arcee asserts.

“Arcee, I might be able to help-” you start, but Arcee lifts a hand.

“No. You'll be alright in here, as long as you all stay put.”

Arcee begins towards the door, and Bee and Bulkhead exchange a glance before following with loaded weapons. Leaving you to babysit.

“That was intense!" Miko says. 

"Was?” Raf exclaims in terror.

“Are you kidding me?” you say. How can she _still_ find this to be fun?!

“It was _your_ fault that we're stuck in this 'intensity'. What were you thinking, Miko?” Jack hissed, the edge clear on his tongue.

“Did I ask you to follow me?” Miko sneered, glaring at him.

“You wanted us to be a band, doesn't that mean playing together?”

“Well maybe I decided to go solo!”

“Well maybe I have some regard for your safety!”

“Band or not, Miko, the Autobot's deal with serious stuff, you can't join them like it's a Sunday picnic!” you exclaim, staring hard at her. 

“Oh, I'm sorry, is your name Optimus? Are you guys Autobots now?” Miko retorted, her voice growing in volume. “You can leave my protection to Bulkhead, thank you very much-”

“Stop it! All of you!” Raf yells before shouldering past you, running across the room and crouching over the ledge of the platform.

Oh, shit. Now you feel bad. Sharing a quick glance with Miko and Jack, you quickly trot over and sit beside Jack, who softly puts his hand over Raf's shoulder.

“H-hey Raf, it's okay,” he tries to console.

“Yeah, we're gonna be fine,” Miko says.

“I'm sorry for yelling, Raf,” was all you could manage to say. You've never been good with kids. But, Raf has shown he's much smarter than the average kid. Maybe he shouldn't be treated like one so much?

“Our bots will come back for us!” Jack adds hopefully.

“Yeah, they're gonna take us home,” Miko says, softly nudging his shoulder.

“How do you know?” Raf finally mumbles, hiding his face in his arms.

Jack and Miko look to you for an answer, and you blink in confusion. What, they think you know the answer?  
Oh. Right. You're an adult. You're supposed to have those. You bite your lip, looking away for a moment, then back at him.

“Because they promised to protect us. Remember? Bee would never let you down!” you finally say, and Raf finally glances up at you, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Yeah! Bumblebee's gonna kick those 'cons butts!” Miko exclaims, and Raf's grin only grows.

You feel yourself grin too, and reach over Jack's shoulder to rub Raf's. You can feel Miko's hand slide over your arm as you're joined in a quick side-hug, forcing Jack in between it. Grinning, you can't help but laugh as the others laugh, too. Yeah, these kids aren't that bad.

You all get up, and Jack helps Raf and Miko up as you glance around the room. There's a large screen against the wall with some crazy looking equations going on, and various alien equipment and ledges that are entirely too unnecessary.  
Probably for some kind of weird spiky, intimidating look, and you want to actually vomit if that was the case.

“H-hey Raf, what do you make of that?” Jack says, staring over at the screen.

Raf follows his gaze before jumping down the stair's ledges. Running up to the screen he gazes up at it, squinting slightly. You follow in tow with Jack and Miko.

“It's important,” Raf says. “Real important. We gotta get this to Optimus!”

“How do you know it's not just a recipe for space nachos?” Miko asks, looking down at him incredulously.

“I know math when I see it. And that is one serious equation!”

“Can you, uh, download it?” Jack shrugs.

“I've got a flashdrive,” Raf says, pulling his backpack from his shoulder and crouching on the floor, unzipping it and pulling out the small object.

“But I don't see anywhere to plug it in,” he finishes, looking around as he wearily steps forward. “This tech is _way_ alien.”

Just then, the clanking of steel and steel clashing met your ears. Turning around slowly, a Decepticon turns and spots the dead bodies around him.

Quickly, you begin to usher them along, trying to find somewhere to hide. Just as you pass a corner you realize Raf has stopped to grab his backpack. Just as it's in his hands, the 'con turns to spot him and immediately draws his weapon.

He slowly walks towards Raf, positioning his arm to kill. Miko covers her eyes, and you watch as Jack runs towards them.

“Jack, no!” you hiss, and are forced to follow after. 

He grabs Raf just as the shots miss him, and you sigh in relief. But, this did give you an opening. You darted under the 'con, who luckily doesn't notice with his eyes on the boys.

“Miko! Take a picture!” Jack yells, to which Miko responds “Great idea!” and pull out her phone.

“Hey you!” she screams, to which the 'con falters and looks down at her. She points the camera up at him and snaps a picture of the Decepticon's face.  
While the 'con processes what happened, you look at one of the unnecessarily placed spikes decorated along the ships walls. Gripping at the nearest piece, you groan as you attempt to pry off a piece of it. You can hear the screeching of metal before it snaps off like a branch, and you almost lose your footing.

“Not of that! Of _that_!” Jack yells, pointing at the screen.

“Oh,” Miko says.

You run up behind the 'con again and squint, searching for a weak spot. There was a small gap between the plating of his ankle and feet. Ah, the good old Achilles heel.  
Works for you.

Staring at the spot of assassination, you feel your heartbeat thump loudly in your chest. Taking a deep breath, you thrust forward as hard as you possibly can into the ankle of the 'con. Immediately you felt bioskin break and wires tear as blue energon gushes from it's wound. Adrenaline soars through you, you've never felt this alive in your life! 

You yelp, leaping back in full instinct mode as the blood spits at you, terrified of having a similar experience from before, or possibly killing yourself. You land hard on your tailbone and hear agonized screaming, but almost scream yourself as you feel an intense burning in your arm.  
Looking down, some blood droplets had gotten on your forearm and had already begun to sizzle your flesh. You rubbed it with your shirt, scratched at it, tried to get it to stop from seeping into your skin, but the blue stained your skin like paint until it seeped into your wound. Strangely enough it didn't burn quite as badly, but it still left you with burned flesh.

You don't have much time to whine about it as Jack grabs your arm, forcing you to your feet.

“Go, go, go!” he yells as you book it with the others out of the room and down the hall.

A 'con approaching the room, who must have been alerted by the scream, loads his gun, and you run for your fucking _life_ because you're about to die or kill one or more of these kids and you don't know what fate is worse.  
Lights blur your vision, and for half a second you think you had been shot and this is what followed after death.  
You hear a loud honk as Bulkhead flies over you, landing hard on his feet and running towards the 'con in question.

He barrels straight into him like a tank, skidding and sparking across the hall on top of him. He drags him mid-slide; and proceeds to slam him into the ground, land a few feet ahead, and transform once again, speeding past his limp body.

Suddenly Bumblebee and Arcee skid to a halt on both sides of you, and you almost _throw_ yourself into the backseat of Bumblebee's car.

“I told you to _stay put!_ ” Arcee scolds loudly as Jack swings his legs over her, and you both speed off down the hall.

As you sit there, you realize just who was back here with you. Agent Fowler roughly shoulders past you to put his hands against the seats and look at Raf and Miko.

“I like pie,” he slurred. “Can we stop for pie?”

“You found Fowler! Rock on!” Miko exclaims, flashing concert symbols with her hands.

The three vehicles raced away from the ship as fast as possible. There was no one to bridge us back, so you had to wait while they sped down the highway. You looked down at the large burn on the underside of your forearm.

“Hey, uh...” you hear Bulkhead over the radio. 

“What's up, Bulk?” you hear Bumblebee say.

Wait. Did Bumblebee just say something? Albeit it sounded like static, almost as if hearing through an old radio or microphone, but it was still comprehensible. Maybe you were just hallucinating or something?

“On our way out I noticed a con in the room the kids were waiting in. There was a bunch of blood on it's leg, looks like something slashed his pedal tendon open.”

Bumblebee let out a series of confused beeps and whizzes, and you blinked rapidly in concern, staring down at your hands. Maybe you _are_ going crazy.

“That was me, Bulkhead,” you finally say.

“What?!” Bulkhead exclaims, and a shocked beep from Bumblebee made you assume he said the same.

“Oh my gosh! You should've seen it! She was like, take this stupid boltbrain! And just stabbed him! In the _ankle_!” Miko yells, waving her hands around in astonishment.

“Well, I'll be.” Bulkhead says, and you can hear the click of his radio turn off.

*

Optimus switches the torch off as he finishes up Ratchet's new cast. Walking over to the group, the kids turn towards Ratchet in concern. Fowler was hooked up to a medical bed that Ratchet had stashed somewhere.  
Of course, he didn't have the decency to lend it to you when you had nowhere to sleep, and he didn't tell anyone where he got it. When questioned once again about his extensive amount of human medical equipment, all he had to say was “Don't ask.” 

“What happened to you guys, anyway?” Miko asks in concern.

“We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors,” Ratchet says.

“Zombies?” Miko straightens up. “You fought zombies and I missed it?!”

“You're never satisfied, are you?” you sigh, crossing your arms.

But how could Cybertronian warriors possibly become zombies? You remember when you had those faint visions of metal bodies being torn from the earth. Could it be linked to that?

“Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the humans to accompany you,” Optimus announces, giving Bulkhead a dark, but firm stare.

Bulkhead stood, and glances at you all, before looking back at him.

“It won't happen again, Optimus,” Bulkhead slowly says. “I promise.”

“But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault,” Miko says, stepping forward. 

“Miko, please!” Bulkhead hisses down at her.

“And check it out; recon!” she pulls up her phone, and Optimus leans down to stare at the photo of the mathematical equation displayed on the screen from earlier.

“Hmm...Ratchet, have a look,” Optimus states. “It could be of importance to Megatron.”

“Woah, Megatron's back? That's really bad news, right?” Jack asks in shock.

Ratchet stares down at the photo for a moment.

“I...don't understand,” he says, and Miko moves her phone down to look at it.

“Oops! That's the 'con who tried to blow Raf away. At least that's what he looked like before (Y/N) got him in the Deceptichille's heel!” she exclaims, stabbing the air.

“She did _what?_ ” Arcee says.

“Miko! Raf was almost killed. This isn't a game! When are you gonna get that through your _thick_ skull?” Jack snaps at her, and she crosses her arms in agitation.

“Um, we were _all_ almost killed, Jack. You, (Y/N), me, Raf? Even _them!_ ” she points towards the Autobots before crossing her arms and turning away.

“Well, if this was just an average day with the Autobots, then I don't want to be apart of it. Not anymore.”

“Jack,” you hear Optimus say. “Putting you in harms way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you four that is at risk, but the safety of all humankind. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave.”

You looked up at Optimus. He held a straight face, but you could hear the strain in his voice. He sounded almost defeated, in a way.

Just then, the ground-bridge began to light up. 

“No point in long goodbyes, here's the door,” Ratchet said gruffly, motioning towards the portal.

You looked over at him, almost feeling insulted at that. But you had to remind yourself, the humans weren't as important to him as they are to Optimus. Could you really blame him? You've only caused trouble for him.

Jack looked down before turning to Raf. 

“Come on, Raf.”

You expected him to nod and follow, but he looked away, turning to Bumblebee. Bee just looked away sadly, most likely expecting him to leave as well.

“I'll be okay, Jack,” Raf says with a small smile, “see you at school.”

“Sure thing,” Jack says, turning and heading down the stairs.

Arcee stepped in front of him, crossing her arms.

“I know, you don't exist,” Jack says, walking past her.

“Don't make me hunt you down,” she says, and sighs, looking away.

He walked into the ground-bridge, disappearing behind the multitude of hues.

“Bulkhead, Bumblebee; accompany Miko and Raf home,” Optimus orders, and the two nod before transforming into their respective alt modes.

Miko waved at you and the Autobots. “See ya,” she said before climbing into the car.

You smiled down at Raf and gave him a quick hug before he left. You felt bad for the kid, honestly.  
But now that they were gone, you felt a bit out of place. Looking over, you notice Arcee take off down the hall.  
You glance over at Ratchet, who was working on his computer. Optimus was checking various machinery around the room. Deciding not to bother them, you follow the sounds of revving engines down the hallway.

By the time you reach the end of it, there was nowhere to go but an open staircase. Climbing it for what seemed like forever, and basically draining the rest of the possible energy you have left, you begin to feel fresh air on your face and in your lungs. Looking up, there was a ladder leading up to a large opened hatchet breaking out onto the roof.  
Climbing up it, you poke your head out of the square hole and watch as Arcee sits down at the edge of the silo's roof. She sighs, looking out over the purple twilight.

“Arcee?” you softly call out as you hesitantly approach. 

“Hey,” she said. She's not gonna shoo you off? Tell you she hates you?

You clumsily sit down at the ledge, your legs dangling over it as you look up at her.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. Just needed some air,” she said.

You sit for a moment, looking out over the rocky terrain bathed in blue. Stars dotted the sky, dozens of them, more than you'd ever see from your apartment window in the city.

“So you're the one that ripped apart that 'cons pedal tendon, huh?” Arcee comments, looking out at the stars, too.

You feel yourself blush, looking away. “Um. Yeah. I know, it was a dumb move-”

“Are you kidding?” Arcee said. “You were doing it to protect those kids. You got guts, (Y/N). I respect that.”

You smile to yourself, feeling your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. The only thing on your mind was to keep Raf and Jack safe, really...

“And...” Arcee quietly said. You perked up, almost not catching that.

“I'm sorry. About that time I said to buzz off. I uh, I guess the grief from what had happened with Cliffjumper...” she closed her eyes tight, looking away. “The first thing I wanna do when that happens, is just close myself off.”

“It's okay, Arcee,” you say, putting your hand over hers. She tenses up immediately, but you don't move it.

“This week has been, uh...it's been pretty crazy,” you say with a nervous laugh. She laughs, too, loosening up.

“You're telling me. It's a madhouse right now. And those kids...” she says, rolling her eyes.

“It seemed to me like Jack was growing on you,” you say, giving her a sly smirk.

“What? No,” she scoffs, crossing her arms. “He's just a kid.”

“I don't think he's 'just a kid', Arcee,” you say, your tone growing a bit more serious. “Every time Raf was in danger, he practically threw himself over the kid like a body shield. He's got guts, too.”

“Really,” Arcee mulled, looking out at the sky again, thinking quietly.

“Maybe you should talk to him?” you say, before standing up. “I'm gonna go back inside, it's getting kinda cold. You coming?”

“Nah, I'll be here,” Arcee says. “Just wanna think for a bit.”

“Alright,” you say and head for the hatchet, climbing down the ladder. You glance at her one more time, staring out at the stars before lowering yourself down into the silo.

Walking down the endless halls, you find yourself a bit lost as you try to navigate the main control room. Looking around frantically, all the halls and doors look the same, until you hear a static-filled voice behind you.

“You look lost.”

“I am. Terribly lost.” you turn and realize Bumblebee was staring down at you in shock. 

You blink for a moment before your mouth drops. Did you just understand him? Again?

Bee began to buzz at you in confusion, lifting a hand expressively. You didn't understand that at all. What the hell was happening?

“Uh...I...don't know what you just said. Can you lead me to the control room?” you ask, giving him an awkward smile. 

He raises an eyebrow at you before nodding and heading down the hall. You take a few turns and just like that, you found yourself in the main room with Bumblebee and Bulkhead. 

“Megatron is building a space-bridge. If he hasn't already,” you hear Optimus's voice as you all enter.

“The sooner he leaves the better,” Bulkhead says as you approach the group.

“The space-bridge runs in two directions. Megatron may not be using it to leave Earth,” Optimus said gravely. “But to bring through his conquering army.”

“The 'main event' Megatron referred to? But the only place Megatron could possibly recruit that many fallen warriors...” Ratchet trailed off, looking up at Optimus.

“Precisely...Cybertron.”


End file.
